Imprecise Reflections
by PrincessLyoka
Summary: Six: Lachlan was lowering the chest's lid slowly, slightly bent forward, eyes probably closed. Visibly disturbed he was shaking, quivering harshly, the strings of his blood-red hood swaying side to side. "I'm… I'm sorry."
1. One: Still Here

**_A/N - Here's the full synopsis I usually use because I cannot do 380 characters for this._**

**Woofless had already heard the theories of this fabled "Plane of Existence," but had always scoffed them off. Nothing could survive outside the Borders that kept many from leaving Living Axe. How could there be other worlds out there, worlds with people like us? Reflections? What conspirator came up with this?**

**Nothing can survive outside the Borders. There's no way to escape.**

**Those lies were foiled after he volunteered for the experiment that ruined his life... twice. Now merged with a somewhat-mirror-image of himself dubbed Rob, he flees through the Borders and survives in hopes of finding a way of splitting them, only to learn he can't due to Rob's mysterious murder. And it's not like they can turn around now - in Living Axe they'll be captured again, and in How to Minecraft they've alreasy been discovered.**

**Just for how long can they keep this up until the worlds fall apart under the paradox?**

**_Without further ado, enjoy :)_**

* * *

**Chapter One – Still Here**

_"I'd die to be where you are/ I tried to be where you are." -Digital Daggers, '_Still Here'

A quiet village surrounded a castle.

Well, it was quiet at the moment, the time currently night, thus so the inhabitants resting in their homes. Though when the hours that daylight disrupted their slumber and forced them to get about their business was when raucous, loud and boisterous noise filled the air at squares and markets woven into the streets, even within the castle walls the village boasted as their centerpiece.

Perhaps a name for this place could've been "Noisy Town." Oh, a fun joke between the citizens and the other places people would domicile within the kingdom borders. Yet that was no such name.

The noise, however, would've diminished the further from the castle if one travelled outward during the day. The streets would turn from stone bricks and cobblestone to cobblestone and gravel to gravel and finally just dirt. Alleyways stretched farther apart from one another with each passing house until they could hold a wide expanse of farmland and cattle. More trees popped from the ground and more greenery, more silence, a more gentle and slow life held beyond the busy life within.

And typically, the outer life wouldn't be so eventful, for the most part not following the end of evening.

Tonight was the exception.

**((((()()()()()))))**

His glowing fingers drummed against the windowsill, each one that fell in a rhythmic flow that vibrated his elbow propping up his head, staring through the glass panes. He sighed.

Kenny had already gone to sleep, having been exhausted from working in the wheatfields for most of the day. He would've been too tired to wake up to the sounds outside, and even if he did, wouldn't have bothered to move from bed. Meanwhile Preston, who in turn was bobbing his head, gazed at the passing knights galloping down the paths on their horses, glass visors and rough faces beneath illuminated by the lanterns held in the mouths of their rides. It was a baffling scene – there was hardly any night patrol to maintain the confines of curfew, and even then, they never moved so quickly, so urgently. It was as if they were chasing someone or going someplace imminent.

Something was wrong.

Preston continued to maintain his cadent hand movements while arguing with himself whether to wake his roommate or not. Not won over; he sincerely felt bad for Kenny. The little sixteen-year-old had been ordered to move out of his own home when Rob was taken away over two months ago and hated living here. Since there have been constant complaints on how it was boring in the outer life, worse with the labor he had to commit to since Preston no longer wanted.

Yet the poor boy may like the excitement, or it just be a whole hot mess of worry.

He sighed, turning from the window. It was probably just some thief that broke into the royal family's vault or an escaping criminal believed to rendezvous out in the less populous side of the village, nothing out of the ordinary-

Knocking.

It was so unexpected Preston jumped, the heat that flared over his body strengthening and marking the stone ground underneath his feet with a dark color. Perhaps walking around barefoot wasn't his brightest idea, then again living in a wooden house ended disastrously in the same way.

The knocking continued, the sound turning from a tap to a pounding that as loud as it was still would fail to wake Kenny. As the resident walked through his darkened home he figured it had to be a knight that would question him if he saw anything unusual or knew something about their castaway target. And he was right.

He just didn't expect the knight to be Vikk.

Amber eyes met him from the other side of the door as he opened it, jutting out from a dark brown face under an enchanted iron helmet gleaming intensely in blue Protection and purple Unbreaking. A Sharpness sword glowing deep cerulean lay at the side, though swinging harmlessly from his belt untouched, not even with a hand to reach for it. Fully armored and fortified, his face stern with solemnity, and backed by a pair of other knights carrying lanterns on horseback on the gravel path, he was somewhat frightening.

But not to Preston. Had it been a different environment his arms would already be thrown around Vikkstar's neck, except this was not the case. He caught onto the grave atmosphere and stood at attention, almost like a true knight himself. Shame he wasn't permitted.

"Hey Preston," greeted Vikk flatly. "It's a nice night tonight, isn't it?"

His friend nodded, staring up at the skies. The sky was utterly black and dotted with tiny twinkling stars, cloudless and lacking the presence of a moon; a perfect night. "Yeah, it's nice."

Vikk narrowed his furor, catching that short hint of despair. "Hey," he said, "I know I haven't been around much as often as I promised but I really can't stay. You feeling alright?"

Preston nodded, which was a big fat lie. Still, he belied otherwise, "Not really. I really miss Rob since they cut out any visitors. It was because the experiment went wrong, didn't it?"

"No. The scientists assured the experiment went right as plan, just some side effects they wanted to work out. But, Preston that's why I'm here."

He blinked, creeper-like eyes shocked. "What do you mean? What happened to Rob?"

The knight held up his hands, halting his friend from continuing and speaking up himself. "Calm down-"

"Why should I calm down? You know Robbie is all I got left! And if he's hurt or something from those scientist people I'll-"

He ceased his rambling, seeing the men on the path beginning to draw their swords. Vikk spiraled round and stopped them, then turning back to Preston, an orange glow highlighting his face. Slowly he admitted, "Yes, something happened to Rob- _but_ _wait, _you… you can help us."

Taking deep breaths, Preston crossed his arms, having his magma-like limbs cool down. The men lowered their weapons, looking glumly at each other. He knew they were waiting for an excuse to kill him. A lot of people wanted to kill him, respawn or not, as well as the other humanoids like him.

See, as though the majority of the kingdom and the inhabitants of the village were pure Minecraftian, there were a small percentage that… wasn't. Preston included, being a sort of "lava-mob" from the moment of birth. The lava part was a bit obvious with his skin textured with the moving hot liquid and the flaming light he emitted. "Mob" jumped in from his face that resembled a creeper so much it was rumored one of his parents were one. Not that he ever met his parents. The thing was, Preston wasn't a "hostile" mob; always cool, typically able to hold himself together however it was natural - may've burned a few things down when he _did _get upset, only…

He hated how some treated him and his kind of people as animals. Though Preston was the only lava-mob, there were others who were treated unfairly. Pete, being part slime, often had children stick things in him that was a difficult mess to remove, those kids not even fearing anyone of authority reprimanding them for it as it was seen as "harmless" child's play. Choco had difficulty finding a job, and when he did, he barely kept it for a week before someone "unalloyed" would step in. Once in a while one of the Little Lizard brothers would be found in an alleyway beaten to a pulp. And Nooch… Preston didn't like to think about what happened to his friend. An accident forced him to become cyborg, chasing away the bulk of his buddies other than the ones he had now, and a year ago he tried to lead a revolution to end the discrimination by taking over the monarchy. It failed, his followers executed, Nooch jailed for life, mainly because the non-bias king was outvoted by the people's clamors, however forced into the sovereign's service since they were friends.

Since, though, the hardships only seemed to worsen, especially with Rob, otherwise known as Woofless, a human, called upon to reside in the Facility and no longer providing a safe pass. There were a lot of furious stares aimed at the lava-mob lately when he walked among the streets, telling him wordlessly that one step out of line he would be next.

It was only a matter of time before there would be a snap that would more likely kill him and take his respawn.

Perhaps denying Vikk's request would get these two knights to slice off his head. Believing so, he took a deep breath, feeling his heart slow down. Still with a slight edge of angst, he asked softly, "Sure but… what happened to Rob?"

Vikk lowered his eyes, afraid to look at his friend. "He, uhh, fled the Facility a few hours ago-"

"He WHAT!?"

A flash of enchanted iron caught his eyes. Quickly Preston stepped back in the doorway, smothering his flaring anger before things became too heated.

"Robert ran away from the research facility," restated Vikk, amber eyes floating up to the lava-mob's level. Benign, offering care. "Around nine at the latest. I wasn't told why but the scientists think it has to do with the side-effects of the experiment done on him."

"So the experiment was done? The one he volunteered for?"

The knight nodded. "I heard it went smoothly, just something that wasn't foreseen they were getting under control until… well…"

Confusion washed over him. Preston narrowed his eyes, expecting his friend to continue, only to contract silence.

What was wrong with Woofless? If the experiment went without difficulty with just an easy to deal with symptom why would he run? Better said, if something was wrong with him, why would he leave the only people who could help him?

"What was the side-effect?"

Vikk shrugged. "I was told he might harm more people than himself. I don't know how but it's all I know."

_Harm more people than himself._

"And I can help how?" He almost didn't want to, didn't want to get hurt or somehow hurt Rob and get blamed for it, which would happen. But if a friend was in trouble there was nothing stopping him for helping that friend.

Shame there had to be limits_._

Thankfully Vikk knew this too. "I was thinking you'd keep an eye out," he explained. "I know you can't right now with your curfew but when it lets up you could look around for us. And you're close to Robert, so we were thinking he might try meeting up with you. If he does-"the knight raised his left arm horizontally, swiping his pointer finger from elbow to wrist where a gray line trailed. Instantly a rectangle of the same transparent color rose about two hands high, filled with messages from various people followed by _-me, _"me" being Vikkstar. "-You just tell me through chat. I got you permission except only whispering to other people, nothing public. 'Kay?"

Preston nodded, tracing his left arm and just like with Vikk a gray rectangle rose from his limb, only a lot thinner. Chat was busier for the knight in front of him since he was a major sergeant on duty, however for the humanoids they could usually only watch public messages go by or never reply to any whispers sent to them. It had something to do with the command blocks built and hidden within the kingdom borders, rumored to be hidden somewhere amid the castle, which were programmed to hamper certain citizens' communication. Such law was only admitted following Nooch's uprising to prevent any of the humanoids from making plans between one another, some saying that they were only allowed to watch public and private messages go by to make them feel left out, apart, derided.

And now, with the news that these restraints were lowered for him, the lava-mob flicked with his right hand to the left, where a keyboard showed up. Slowly, he typed in _/w to Vikkstar123 testing._

On the other open chat, the words _TBNRfrags -me: testing. _appeared. Preston only stared blankly.

Nodding, Vikk smiled at his friend, who didn't return it. "Maybe I can convince Mitch to keep your permissions-"

"Don't try," interjected Preston glumly. "I'm sure if he submits the idea to the committee it'll be vetoed in seconds. They're already considering taking his ranks."

"They wouldn't do that."

"Believe me – if they were sane enough to request the use of me and Rob, then use him over me to torture, they'd evict Mitch."

He sighed, turning away. "I'll keep an eye out for Rob and tell you guys. But if you're gonna hurt him-"

"I would never hurt my friends."

"I'm talking about the people you're working for, those scientists." Eyelids shutting, Preston stepped into his house, magma-colored hand on the door. "I don't trust them. I don't."

With that, he closed the door.

**((((()()()()()))))**

The night seemed a lot colder now with the news Rob was on the loose somewhere burrowed deep into the lava-mob's chest. His mind, more like it, or his heart. Having returned to his position by the window, his creeper-like eyes stared out into the darkness. The empty darkness. More knights had passed by his house since Vikk left, perchance from the possibility Rob may try to meet up there, which secretly, Preston wanted.

Now there were no knights. Not a torch or a lantern, not even the stepping of horse hooves. Had they been tipped off on Rob's location? Yet when Preston checked chat, there was nothing of the sort.

Vikk had already messaged him a few times, however said nothing on coming close on finding their runaway friend. Mostly he received reassurances, those cliché _I'm sure we'll find him _and _Hey don't worry, I bet he's okay_ which meant nothing. Did he not know how vague they were? The desperate would probably cling to those first words until a thousand more of the same verses woven together in the same way ruined it. And, boy, the amount of times friends had whispered to him in the last couple of months _I'm sure Rob is fine._

No one understood how close to two were; Preston, for as long as he could remember, grew up in Rob's household. They were like brothers of a sort. Rob was the one that protected him from those who wanted to hurt him, introduced him to the friends he had now, even stepped up for something that would more likely harm him.

No, not "more likely." Definitely harm him. It had to be why he ran – the experiment hurt him.

Whatever it was.

Preston sighed and opened chat again, this time swiping to the right where he had managed to move some messages he had received before they become lost in the ever-going communications in a private folder. These existed to every individual and had no confines to the humanoids, in which Preston knew, and treasured. Since Rob was gone he had sent whispers to his friend who, in turn, stored them away to look over later.

Now he looked at them, seeing the _Woofless - me, _hoping they'd showed some sign of what the experiment was about and _why _Rob had to be kept at the Facility for so long, and possibly any reason that forced him to flee, which there was none of. There was a plethora of times where Rob had mentioned what he had gone through for his testings that prepped him of the experiment, yet they were more of blood being drawn and physical assessments such as exercise. Nothing more. The only thing that seemed suspicious was that he didn't send anymore whispers following the eighteenth of August, ten days ago. It wasn't as though Preston could reply back to see what the holdup was and he was turned down from visiting at any time following that date.

Seeing there was not anything giving him a path to continue thinking, the lava-mob leaned back on his chair, cruising through the whispers, reminded of the visits he had paid to fill the absence. Looking back there seemed _nothing _horridly wrong with the Woofless, nothing that seemed to make him sick in any way. Maybe there were some times when Preston would come in and find Rob with a bloody bandage on a limb, but he swore it was gone the next day. If he were pale, his face flushed with color the afterward. There was never any hollowness in his cheeks that proved he was being starved in any way. Whenever he was over-exhausted from his physical activities they didn't occur the following day, just to make sure comfort still existed.

Rob just seemed _better _living at the Facility. Now it was just a matter of _why the fudge _he would take off under the cover of darkness.

Maybe it was he wasn't permitted to leave? He just needed some fresh air?

Preston chuckled drowsily to himself. It was useless thinking that was getting him nowhere, meanwhile Rob was _somewhere _with no tracks to follow. Somewhere out there… in the wild… with mobs and such that could hurt him…

As much as he was fighting it, drowsiness began to take over, creating a fog in his mind. The lava-mob shook his head, telling himself to keep his eyes open.

Though, in the end, he found himself adjusting his seat cushions…

**((((()()()()())))))**

"Sh-Shut up."

The darkness was total now, a black so deep Preston wasn't sure if he had opened his eyes. Even with the soft glow that emitted off his skin he found it virtually impossible to see.

"St-Stop with t-the P-Poofless jokes. I-It's getting on m-my fl-flippin' n-nerves."

Poofless? What sort of joke was that? Caught in the confusion on whether he was still dreaming or not, Preston unfolded himself from the floor where he must've fallen in his slumber, hands flashing around for the nearby candle. He met with an unlit one on the wall he removed, however two fingers stuck before lighting it.

"Okay, i-if t-they ease y-your f-fears t-tell them to y-yourself- o-okay, t-that doesn't w-work either."

Whoever this voice was talking to must've been the most quiet person in the world or the former was speaking far too loud to be unheard. Speaking of which he… he sounded all too familiar. _Far _too familiar.

Quaking, Preston shuffled his bare feet across the stone floor, following the sound of the intruder, palm sliding along the wall. The stairs were nearby someplace. If he had to the lava-mob would more likely attack this person then run to the second level to warn Kenny, that is, if his suspicions weren't true…

It had to be so late at night – maybe even early morning at this point – yet the trespasser still rambled to a muted second not even tiredly: "I-I j-just need s-some f-food for the j-journey. N-Not w-water, there's a l-lot of st-streams along t-the way. W-Weapon? No, I-I d-don't think its n-necessary."

His ears picked up a creak of one of the kitchen cabinets opening. After a dissatisfied sigh it creaked again, this time a bit faster, until there was a quiet _bang _of wood colliding.

"S-Sorry, s-sor- W-What do you m-mean b-behind m-me?"

That one hindrance of glowing in the dark. Eyes turned towards him in the obscurity, unseen by the one they were aimed at. Now this prowler had the advantage, meanwhile Preston still had yet to see him, an uneven slope he had to smooth.

He raised his hand to the candle wick, two fingers pressing against the unlit string, heat spreading onto until a flame formed. Still holding on, Preston strider closer to where the voice had originated, listening for footsteps other than his.

There was none.

Perfect. Grinning faintly, standing in the middle of what he believed to be the kitchen, he released his hands.

Having been lit by an unnatural force the candle flared off a bright light, basking the room in a yellow-orange glow flickering, warming the lava-mob's face. Just as he thought, gray-brown eyes gawking directly into his, the man that stood in front of him shaking with fear.

What was there to fear?

Silence lingered in the air. The two only stared at one another, the man straightening a thin, periwinkle-colored shirt with one hand, the other holding a tan folder clutched firmly against his chest.

He couldn't take the nothingness no more, didn't _want _to. Before his friend could run Preston set his hands firmly around the other's body, trying to ease the trembling, whispering softly, "Rob, I missed you."

* * *

**_A/N - Enjoyed, dear readers? Remember to drop a review!_**

**_And has anyone else notice how the Doc Manager has squished my screen into this column thing, or is it just me? _**


	2. Two: Might Be Gone A While

**Chapter Two – **_**Might Be Gone A While**_

_"I love you. I love you. I send this message through my fingers and into his, up his arm and into his heart. Hear me. I love you. And I"m sorry to leave you." -Jenny Downham_

* * *

His arms twitched under the warmth radiating off his friend, the urge to pull away and remain within the hug fighting with one another. Literally.

"Pr-Preston… stop…"

"**N-N-No, d-don't st-stop."**

Though, as only the former of the two were heard, the lava-mob loosened his grip and stepped back, confusion swept over his face. "Rob, what's wrong? Why did you run?"

"You t-to?"

Still quaking, he put his hands over his bare arms and pretended to shiver. Even if it was an unusually warm night Preston caught on, exclaiming, "Oh, I'll get your sweater. Wait here, okay?"

"'K-Kay."

He watched him turn swiftly on his red-orange feet, him and the candlelight dashing out the kitchen and up the stairwell. Left in the darkness the runaway bent over and dropped his arms, struggling to keep a firm foothold.

"St-Stop t-trying to g-get us close t-to him, Rob. H-He's n-not your Pr-Preston, l-like I said."

As though answering something in him shook his head, replying with the same unheard voice: **"S-Sorry."**

Instantly the dominant one pressed two fingers against his temple, not used to the sudden thump. Rob apologized again, and, at the same time, Preston re-entered the kitchen holding a thick blue hoodie. Seeing his friend in pain he quickly swept over and began to lead him out the room. "Rob you need to sit down."

"I'm f-fine."

"No you're not. Here." Preston pulled out a chair from the nearby dining counter. His friend only stared. "Rob-"

"Pr-Preston…" Dropping the folder on top of the chair, he looked up, dull-brown eyes aimed directly into the black creeper-like ones. "Call m-me b-by my b-birth name."

"Woofless?" Nod. "Oh. But, why?"

Getting no response the lava-mob handed over the sweater and watched the one in front of him awkwardly. Woofless didn't bother switching out of the periwinkle shirt he had worn in the Facility, and there was no need to ask why – glitching. Not hard, more as every movement, every time his arms or hand stirred resulted in a rigid twitch that made it difficult even to put on a simple article of clothing.

Yet Woof denied help. It could be heard in his voice too, a constant stutter whenever he spoke, volume rising and falling for such a short instant he himself didn't notice it.

But Preston noticed it.

And Rob realized he figured out too.

"**W-Woof… t-tell him."**

"I c-can't."

Preston raised an eye. "Can't what?"

"I-I c-can't… c-cant…"

And he lowered his gaze. "Y-You w-wouldn't understand. _I-I _almost d-don't-"

"You can tell me anything Ro- Woofless."

Could he? When he looked down he caught sight of the tan folder sitting on the chair innocently, its papery contents poking out some of the sides he thought not. Some of the files had fallen out in the rush of escaping the Facility, but perhaps it was the better.

Heck, it wasn't even _his_ ideato nab those reports. Woofless had just been walking through the hallway looking for the kitchen and somehow ended up in the room that held them. Then he just… ran in and grabbed them.

As fate would have it, he set off an alarm.

Woof shook his head, be ridding of the memory before allowing it to swirl into his consciousness and eat away at his sights. Eyes struggling to focus on his lava-mob friend, he blinked, saying nothing.

"**J-Just tell h-him."**

_Shut up, Rob._

**"N-No. H-He's like my Pr-Preston a-as he is y-yours."**

_What do I have to keep saying?_

Instead of an answer, a sudden _thump _smacked the side of his head, a rogue arm flying free and hitting Preston.

"Woofless!"

"S-Sorry. Ack!"

He clutched his jolting arm, only to have his friend grab it too. Worry was drawn all over those large, black eyes. "What's _wrong, _Woofless?" screeched he. "What's been going on at the Facility? How come I couldn't visit anymore or you send messages to me? Or any of us? Why did you run? Was it something with the experiment going wrong? Do you know that the knights are out looking for you? They say you can harm people. Is that _true?"_

"Y-Yes."

The word escaped his lips before he could stop it. Whether it was Rob's fault or just his own, by the horrified face of the lava-mob, it was about time he acted on it.

**"S-So **_**n-now **_**you w-wanna t-tell him?"**

If he would've, he would've smacked Rob across the face, but he already learned that was impossible.

Woofless lifted his eyes, meeting the shocked stare of Preston who started to back up. Quickly the runaway reached out for him and whispered loudly, "N-N-No, i-it's n-not what y-you think!"

"What am I supposed to think?" the lava-mob stampered. "I was told you can hurt more people than yourself!"

"N-Not like a b-bomb or a-anything! I-I was b-being used a-at t-the F-Facility! T-They were tr-trying t-to turn m-me into a… a w-weapon of s-sorts! L-Like a p-pawn! P-Preston, l-listen to m-me – I'm n-not g-gonna hurt anyone! I'm t-trying t-to fix ev-everything! If I st-stayed t-there – _here – _t-the sc-scientists will _h-hurt _somebody, and e-eventually _s-somebodies! _I n-need t-to _go._"

And he tried to flee – turning on his feet and breaking off, only for an arm to lash out and wrap around his wrist. "Pr-Preston, n-no!"

"You're not leaving until you tell me what the Nether you're talking about!"

"St-Stop-"

"If I let go you're just going to run! Why should I let you? You've been _gone _for two months and now you're back just to tell me you're leaving _again _and you've been being _used _to _hurt people!" _

"P-P-Preston-"

"Do you _expect me _to let to you run off?! No, better question, why did you _come here? _ Were you trying to steal something and _expect _to get away unseen? You _aren't! _I'm not letting you out my sights _again_!"

"N-No, Preston, l-let me g-go!" Tears began to pool in Woofless's eyes, more of pain than his sudden dismay. "M-My a-arm…"

Realization smacked the lava-mob right across the face. The moment he let go Woofless fell back, clutching a sweltering wrist. Nasty blisters danced across the reddening skin and joined hands with torrid boils on the inflamed floor of burned flesh, enthralled by the music of sizzling blood.

Rob was stunned, Woofless appalled. But what was more was Preston, who stared at his magma hand as it glowed brighter than usual - enough for its orange radiance to pierce through the candlelight thickly.

Silence caught its moments in the air until Preston finally looked up from his hand, muttering, "I… Woof I'm… I'm so sorry…"

"I-It's f-fine," Woofless hushed, stroking the injury gently as though it was nothing. It stung, nearly hot to the touch. Nerves were screaming at him but he let it go. "It d-doesn't h-hurt that m-much."

"But I've… I've never…" the lava-mob's voice began to tremble, eyes drifting to the floor. "I've never _burned _anyone…"

**"H-He hasn't?"**

"No, Pr-Preston…" Gently Woofless lowered his hand on his friend's shoulder, wincing at his wrist. "Preston, i-it's f-fine, d-don't be s-so hard o-on yourself. Accidents h-happen."

"I'll get in trouble-"

"N-No, st-stay quiet Preston. I'll t-talk. I-I'll t-talk real f-fast, I…"

Woofless looked up and around, double-checking if everything was clear. "I-I need t-to cross the B-Border…"

For once the lava-mob kept himself in a hush. Well at first, blinking with astonishment before looking at his friend. "That's impossible."

"It's n-not. N-Not an-anymore, at l-least. T-The sc-scientists m-made a way w-with m-me a-and I sh-should be a-able t-to cross it n-now… m-more 'efficiently' t-than t-they had…"

He could see it in Preston's eyes – absolute shock dashed with confusion. Before he could ask again Woofless continued, "They w-w-wanted to s-see w-what was on t-the o-other side. T-There i-isn't n-nothing l-like we were t-told; there's m-more worlds, more p-p-people. A-And t-they're sorta l-like u-us. A l-lot like u-ss. T-The s-scientists c-call them 'r-reflections' a-and t-they took m-mine and m-merged h-him with m-me. I-I need t-to cr-cross t-the Border to sp-split u-us or… o-or they'll h-hurt m-my reflection R-Rob-"

"Preston?"

He paused, the color draining from his face. Quickly he bent over and retrieved the folder from the chair and stared up towards the staircase. A soft glow was emitted from a second candle held by another, a boy hardly seventeen. His dull white-blond hair was askew and tangly from sleep. His eyes were squinched, ocean blue eyes jumping between the two with confused fatigue.

Again, Kenny's voice slurred quietly, "Preston, who's that? Is that… Robert?"

"Kenny…"

The lava-mob was utterly clueless. At least, until he felt thick papers press into his hands. He looked up, finding Woofless releasing his grip on them and backing away.

Those papers began to smoke as he stepped forward, exclaiming, "No, Rob! Don't go!"

Woofless didn't turn. With their eyes locked he continued walking backwards until he met the huge open window at the end of the kitchen. There he swung his legs over, about to hop out. Only he sat still for a moment, waving his injured limb slowly in farewell.

"I'll b-be b-back," he promised. "I-I j-just might be g-gone a w-while."

With that, he leapt out in the black night, leaving the lava-mob to stare at the spot where his friend once was.

"Preston?" Kenny began walking down the staircase where his friend stood frozen. "Was that Robert?"

The questioned said nothing, creeper-like eyes drifting down towards the papers. In the darkness he could barely make out the text written upon them in perfect printing – more likely done by a computer or command block – however with his orange glow and the two candle's he quickly realized that they were. Documents.

Narrowing his eyes he pulled them closer, trying to read them. Only then when he scanned the first few paragraphs did the edges begin to blacken and curl.

"Preston?"

He looked up, eyes flaring at Kenny who quickly started backing away. "Did you know this?"

"Know what? Preston what's-"

"Did you know this? _DID YOU KNOW THIS_?!"

"Preston, wait, calm down-"

And he shrieked, dropping the burning forms, allowing flames to rise upon them just like his elevating temper.

**((((()()()()()))))**

**"Y-You didn't h-have t-to d-do that."**

Woofless crouched below the windowsill, hearing Preston's rage manifest into furious screaming. Kenny was shouting at him, perhaps trying to maintain him, but there was no way the lava-mob could be calm after seeing those files. At least, not willingly.

**"I c-can't st-stop t-thinking about m-my Preston n-now," **Rob muttered quietly, as though afraid to be heard. **"H-He holds h-himself together b-better t-than t-this and g-gets mad a-all t-the time."**

"W-We aren't exact, r-remember?" The dominant looked down at his festering wrist and sucked in a shaky breath. Even away from the source the injury seemed to be getting worse, as if it was being kept in a pot of boiling water. "B-Bound t-to b-be different – that's w-what t-the sc-scientists said."

**"I-I h-hate them."**

As the dominant nodded Preston let out another outraged screech piercing through the twilight. Faintly he felt heat tingling from above him, the sign that the lava-mob's anger was enough to make things hot. Sure he was told to be calm all the time since heavy emotions would make him "let go" and become unbelievably dangerous, except that was far too often, the sole reason why when he and Woofless bought the farmhouse they had remodeled with fire resistant materials and telling Preston not to touch any of the crops growing in their backyard.

Maybe he wouldn't burn anything down, but his tantrum was definitely going to attract attention.

_I can't stay here._

**"W-We."**

_Same thing._

Slowly Woofless gripped the wall and pulled himself to his feet, peering into the house. Kenny and Preston were now out of sight but a bright orange glow came from the living room hidden, the files slowly burning away in a small flame on the floor blocks in front of him.

Woof turned back around and positioned himself for a dash – Kenny, as confused as he may, was without doubt going to summon help in chat – then stopped.

Basking in the dimness stood a figure. Thankfully not a human figure, that he could tell from the four legs and the long arched head. For a moment Woofless just stood and gazed at it with the tantrum raging on behind him, astonished.

Rob wasn't having any. **"We d-don't g-got time t-to st-stare at h-horses, Woof! G-Go!"**

"B-But wait…"

His feet began striding through the tall blades of wheat, eyes narrowed towards the creature. "T-This c-could shorten t-the journey b-by s-so much. W-What is it, t-two d-days to t-the W-Western Border?"

**"It's a t-trap!"**

_I don't think so._

**"W-Woofless!"**

The horse lifted its head and turned towards the approaching, brown eyes glistening. Iron armor was draped upon its back and saddle. And the closer Woofless got, the better he could see a backpack swaying innocently on the side.

**"I d-don't tr-trust this."**

Nodding, the dominant set his hand on the animal, stroking the white-gray hide and keeping close tabs on the surrounding area. There were hardly any trees around with the majority being inefficient hiding places. Enchanted gear was way too shiny to be successfully concealed in the tall crops and grasses, and even so, the outer regions of the town was so open one wouldn't even consider concealment here.

Was that why the knights vacated this place? There was practically none at all.

_TBNRkenWorth: Someone help! Preston's gone mad and I can't cool him down!_

**"F-Frick."**

"Thanks K-Kenny," Woofless growled, lowering his chat arm. That was bound to happen sooner or later, but now what? So what if the younger TBNR hadn't said anything about seeing his Rob? The knights were going to add two and two together and realize their runaway was there and going to make a beeline. _Thanks Kenny._

This place was going to be swarming at any moment. No way out.

Unless…

Forgetting any doubts of a trap Woofless swung his legs over the saddle. Rob didn't complain as he gripped the reins in his hands, prayed the horse would obey him, and dug his heels into the sides.

Prayer granted. The horse reeled back, legs flung up from the ground and nearly throwing off its rider before falling back down on its hooves and burst into a dash. Woofless yelped then immediately leaned forward, clutching the creature's mane, its hairs woven haphazardly between his fingers. Wind swept the sound of static throughout his ears, the only sound other than the pounding of hooves on the packed earth, crushing grass or any other crops the neighbors had planted.

It was the speed that took him, that sucked astonishment from his breath. The shadow-tainted world around them streaked by in a messy blur and become lost. Obscurity blinded his sights, leaving his eyes baffled, his mind numb with utter disbelief.

Never had he been on a creature close to as fast. Hops could not compare – and it had filled him with regret when they had to sell him.

Now Hops seemed like a snail.

Woofless preferred the snail.

**"W-What a-are you t-talking about? R-RUN S-SEABICUIT!"**

"AHHHHH!"

Even as they sped away, a dark blur to most eyes, a pair caught them, watching them, observing with strict pupils.

The owner did not move. He simply grinned.


	3. Three: Crossing the Border

**Chapter Five – **_**Awaiting Slaughter**_

"_What happens to a dream deferred?" –Langston Hughes, _Dream Deferred

_Woofless watched as Doctor Alia ushered more and more scientists out the room until there were only two – him and another, face partially hidden by long hair. He held a second syringe, the contents within hidden by massive gloved hands._

_ Now he was beginning to get nervous. "Why did you tell them to leave?"_

_ Alia smiled. "Don't fret, it's only a precaution. Part two might not work well if there's too many people causing a commotion, then our following plans may end up going as a disaster. We can't have that, can we?"_

_ "No. But-"_

_ "It's all I asked for, an answer. Nothing more, nothing less." He turned to his partner in crime. "Now then-"_

_ "Hold on!" Woofless cried much louder than intended, his hands flashing in the air._

_ An irritated hiss left the doctor. Turning, he muttered under clenched teeth, "Wait for what? Isn't this what you came forward for? We just need you to cooperate, and it won't work if you tense up."_

_ Woofless shuddered. "I'm sorry, but I have another question. A quick inquiry. Is that alright?"_

_ "Hit me."_

_ He did feel like hitting the doctor now, but he drew a deep breath, trying to stall for as much as possible. "My pair. He's needed for the experiment, or it won't work, right?"_

_ Both of the scientists nodded expressionlessly. If they were normal they'd appear startled; Woofless wasn't to know that._

_ "And he has to be my reflection, right?"_

_ Doctor Alia cocked his head, eyes narrowing. "How did you come to such conclusion?"_

_ "I overheard you talking about how he was outside the Western World Border, so I figured he had to be my reflection." He blinked, looking for any sign of shock in the doctor's face. There was none. "I mean… it's only a theory. It's not possible, people outside the Borders. They said everything is dead out there if there is anything. I probably just misheard you guys; I apologize for eavesdropping."_

"_They don't know any better."_

_Woofless blinked. That actually… worked? "What do you mean?"_

_Straightening his head the doctor crossed his arms, explaining, "The reason people die when they cross the Borders is because they do not belong on the other side. They were born within them therefore immune to them. Because they suffered exterior to the Borders they assumed no one else could, in which the conjecture that everything out there is 'dead.' In truth, everything out there is as alive as citizens of neighboring kingdoms. Like other kingdoms, more particularly, just different regions I refer to as worlds._

"_Believe me; I was too taken aback discovering the existence of the other worlds, even more that some contained 'reflections.' You've heard the theory, obviously you know the thought of people lingering in these worlds are just like us? As far as I am concerned that isn't always true. I may've not crossed into these other worlds myself however I am aware that these reflections are not… accurate. I call them imprecise reflections. Bound to be different in personality though alike in appearance."_

_ "If you've never went to these other worlds how do you know this?"_

_ Alia set a hand on Woof's shoulder, gray to brown eyes meeting. "True, but we've had a previous way of crossing the Borders tested on other people, but it's very expensive and isn't safe. Even the king has gone wary. That's why we need you and your reflection, to make sure our next method does work as it should. And our calculations have no errors thus far."_

_ "What about him?"_

_ "You'll never meet him. If you do, we predict there'll be dire consequences we'd rather not encounter. There is a method for impunity, which is what follows, and you need to be… need to be unresponsive for that. Now lean back. If you're interested in learning more we can hold a conversation later but this is not the time."_

_ Discomfort began to swell. Nonetheless Woofless left his sitting position and rested flat on the metal table, staring past the two men and directly at the ceiling. It felt chilly before, and he liked it that way, but now it felt deathly cold._

_ All that preparing from the last couple of months had come down to this. Whatever it was. _

_ A gloved finger pressed onto his arm, searching for a blood vessel until it pounded against plastic. After a quiet order of "here" the finger slithered off and his skin gave way to sharpness. Woofless could feel the pressure of the second scientist pushing slowly on the top of the syringe, letting the liquid slide into the arm, covered by a hand._

_ Then he pulled back._

_ Something was wrong. Woofless felt it immediately, his arm starting to sizzle and burn. Weakness swept over him as whatever he was injected with spread, his heart thudding in his ears, fighting against it. His stomach curled into knots in urge to vomit out the thing that was wrong._

_ Woofless jerked upward, opposing Alia's wishes, and screamed in horrendous agony. He spat incoming saliva, curling in fetal position, crying out with pain. _

_ His head began to hurt worse. As Woofless sought around with his moribund eyes everything blurred together, fogging, obscuring. Nebulous words meant nothing to him, except for his chest caving in, his heart beating faster and faster without a pace-_

_ Finally he fell off the table, moaning, wishing for death, the realization hitting him._

_ They poisoned him. The scientists. He needed to be "unresponsive" for the experiment's third component when, in reality, they needed him dead._

_ He was going to die._

_ Was this why they barely told him anything? Did they figure that he would put two and two together and start resisting them? He would. He so would._

_ It was too late now. _

_ Wheezing, retching up a mix of saliva and bile, Woofless jerked his head up, finding the doctor's gray gaze trained upon him. Smirking._

**((((()()()()()))))**

Even before he had a chance to open his eyes all agony fell on him. Stomach convulsing, temples throbbing, burning-hot tears bursting free and cutting clean marks down his dirty face. He screamed.

It was almost as if the effects of the poison had jumped from the past and into the present. Perhaps it had, or simply spiked his body to indulge in the side-effects it couldn't evade for long.

Somewhere far back within Rob was shouting but for the dominant that was far beyond him. Crying out again, eyelids jerking open, he tumbled out the bed with flailing and glitching limbs. His feral body rolled over the bookshelves and finally fell, hitting and smacking to the floor where he began coughing and retching up thick mucus that splattered over his face. His head pounded against the hard obsidian side of the enchantment table, back and forth with the leathery and wooden feel of the bookshelves with ever painful, lurching glitch-

Then as sudden as it came, it left.

Like an abrupt death his body stilled, left with throbbing nerves and lungs that stung harshly to breathe. The little task of groaning forced sharpened waves throughout his whole neck that swam up to his head. So deeply within the first anguish he didn't even budge, quiet again except for pounding ears. Drool crept down from the corners of his hinged mouth, blending with those decorating the floor and his face.

"**W-W-Woofless?"**

The called moaned.

"**Can y-you m-move?"**

Again he moaned except this time it sounded more like a dry whimper. _Now Rob? Really?_

"**N-No, I j-just… d-d-don't really l-like t-this spot. We will b-be s-seen here."**

_Will? Do your friends come and burst into your place often?_

"**I t-think t-they've been n-now."**

Deciding not to bother making sounds from his pummeled body again, the dominant growled silently. _Why now?_

"**B-Because I-I'm… g-gone to t-them. I think t-they've been t-taking c-care of my st-stuff l-like Ryan a-and L-Lachlan w-were walking m-my h-horse yes-yesterday. We can't b-be seen until w-we spl-split, r-remember?"**

Yes he remembered. The side-effects didn't chase that from his mind. He also remembered the long expressions bestowed on the pair's faces. How Ryan had said _"I miss him."_

Rob was probably kidnapped by the knights abruptly. Knocked out – RKOed – and brought into a different world leaving behind an unexplained disappearance. That was the definition of kidnapping surely, or Woofless didn't know what else. And based on what he's heard about past abductions these twelve "How to Minecraft" friends of Rob would be either depressed or seeking out the abductor.

They couldn't find him, though. _I'm gone to them._

Sucking in a deep breath Woofless pushed himself off the ground, muscles fighting against movement, the one job they were made to do. Once on his feet he swayed and hastily clutched the bookshelves to prevent toppling. A migraine pounded upon his head like ever aching footstep he made away from the enchantment table and across the flowered floor until he leaned over the fences blocking the ugly potions room. There he coughed. Hard.

"**Sm-Smart."**

He discarded the comment and swung his legs over the wooden barrier, now on the other side. Slowly he walked down the few stoneblock steps, all that was him stiff and bleated, and leaned against the walls as he slid down it. Knees bent, body numbing, bum to the ground, the reflection passed out.

**((((()()()()()))))**

"I don't want to be in here, Mitch."

It was the first voice that broke them from slumber. The second made the dominant's eyes snap open. Scared.

"Just… Just here. Right here. The perfect spot, right by the bed."

His twitching feet nearly knocked the brewing stand over. Shakily he tucked them closer to himself, head veiled slightly behind folded knees. Right now he was so glad he had moved himself or these two would've found the wrong Rob. One he recognized as the BajanCanadian, the other unknown to him, the voice unrecognizable.

"Go ahead. Don't… Don't take too long, okay? Please. It hurts to be in here. It really, really hurts."

Something felt… off. The longer he was curled up in the meager potions room the more it seemed to creep up on him. His skin prickled goosebumps in discomfort and, inside him, Rob sniffed.

"You don't have to be in here. I want… I want to be alone."

"I'm never leaving you, Biggums. I can't."

"You don't have to be in here."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

_Why?_

Woofless resisted to urge to tilt his head, only keeping himself absolutely still as though the slightest movement would attract attention. Even the inferior was keeping silent besides his sniffing. Both remained pressed low against the corner, one on the verge of tears by knowledge, the other confused.

_Why can't Mitch be left alone? Mine could make this person disappear in a harsh order. What's wrong with this one?_

**"He m-misses m-me."**

There was a sigh, more likely from the Canadian, followed closely by a hush. Nervously Woofless raised his head, still far from seeing out the pocket of space he was so blatantly concealed in but his ears could pick up noise more easily. A soft, crunching noise, like grass being shuffled around.

"He…" started the voice unknown to the reflection. "He… isn't going to see this."

"Jerome… please… don't remind me."

_Jerome?_

His inquiry wasn't given answers, no more clues provided. The two didn't speak after that besides the shuffling noise which, in turn, ended within forty or so seconds. Total silence settled in after that, muteness from the pair, perhaps even still, motionless…

Mitch sighed.

"He… He helped with finishing my house… mostly," the Canadian recollected gravely. "The design was all him… some of the materials too. He just… he wanted me to use brown clay but we don't got cocoa beans."

"Tyler said there is a jungle in the server, right?"

"I know, only it was three days away, even on horseback. So I… I told Rob not to worry… maybe I should've…"

"It can just be the two of us, us go," Jerome quickly interrupted. "I mean… us go to the jungle. Merome, us two, to the jungle, on an adventure." He spoke awkward and in shots, the voice of one trying hard to stay somewhat cheery when in reality he was on the brink of weeping himself. "Like think of the sights we can see, the sky, the beauty, us two. Just us two to the jungle, to-to the jungle. Us to the jungle, just us two."

"I-"

"It's just to get away from here. It's hurting you, Biggums. I hate seeing you cry, I hate seeing you sitting on this non-respawning bed planting flowers Rob isn't going to see. We need to get away, think about other things-"

"What other things?"

No response.

"There's nothing else to think about here. We're just trapped here… trapped and stuck like animals with no way out… just pathetically stupid animals awaiting slaughter, one by one-"

"M-Mitch don't _think _like that!"

"There's nothing else to think!"

"Yes there is!"

"Then tell me! Tell me what else to think about besides we're all gonna die here and no one will know because we'll be too dead to tell even if help ever comes for us because we've been trapped here!"

"…We don't have to be-"

"We're treating this place like we'll be stuck here forever unless those things sneak up on us like they did to Rob! That's what Rob did! He built this home and now he's gone! There's nothing else to think about, he's _gone!_"

He wailed, breaking down into sobs immediately after. Jerome didn't respond, keeping himself silent, the air vibrating his friend's wordless cries to more people than he thought.

**"M-Mitchy…"**

Woofless bit his tongue, tears creeping upon his face, sliding down his cheeks of grit. With Rob he trembled as the inferior's emotions crept up upon him, ready to spill over into dominance, ready to cry.

_Stop, Rob, please._

Unsteadily Woofless shook his head and clenched his eyes, forcing back the inferior's influence. _He _was the superior reflection. So what if the scientists had told him that? This was _his _body, it was the truth, and he wasn't about to let the control be stolen, his thought processes muddled, not while battling utter confusion.

They could hear Mitch's cries beginning to deteriorate. Not lessening – they could tell from the quiet footsteps nearly overshadowed by the noise, both sounds disappearing with every step. It was as if he was dragged away, against his will, or even without his care nor consent.

Maybe he was.

The echo in his ears though… Woofless shook his head again, trying to be rid of it. A painful echo, a strange echo, a peculiar, off echo, of weeping. To hear the BajanCanadian snivel and whimper like that was so… odd to the reflection. The one he had grown up with never cried, never seen him cry, never heard him cry. Not his Mitch.

_"Bound to be different."_

Breathing deeply, he reopened his eyes and wiped the accumulating sheen of sticky tears with the backs of his quaking hands. It did little to cleanse the filth.

**"Y-You g-got questions?"**

He jumped and whipped around, smacking his nose with the wall. Had the two not just demonstrated a tearful display the inferior would've laughed.

**"W-Woofless, I d-don't w-wanna t-think about that n-now," **sniffled Rob. **"L-Let's just get this o-over w-with." **

_Fine. _The dominant wiped another teardrop from his eyes, the melancholy psyche still clawing at him. _Jerome. He talks?_

He winced at Rob bobbing his head in yes. **"A-And w-walks on tw-two f-feet a-and wears people cl-clothes. H-He's a bacca b-but trained t-to b-be a hu-human." **Pause. Another wave of sorrow. **"T-The Jerome y-you know… doesn't?"**

_No. He's Mitch's upmost loyal pet._

**"Pet…"**

Now Rob was tottering his substantial head. At this Woofless raised fingers to his temples with tightly clenched teeth. Even with the agony pounding against his skull a new emotion was creeping in. The uneasiness of attempting to imagine a Jerome that acted like a person. The uneasiness of attempting to imagine a Jerome that acted like a pet.

**((((()()()()()))))**

He didn't really feel like inquiring further anymore. After waiting in this stiff corner in silent minutes Woofless plodded back into the main spawner room, hoping to shift their attentions towards the ever-growing hunger instead of this sadness. The aversion proved successful as rooting through the chests he heard the inferior starting to complain about the lack of food. Honestly the dominant felt like doing the same when, just like yesterday, he came upon short of anything edible.

"I'm just g-going to steal more of your c-carrots," huffed Woofless, trudging out the sopping castle. "I-I m-mean, seriously, y-you n-need to or-organize these c-chests-"

**"Not l-like I-I can."**

Oh.

His hands wrapped around more sprouts, ripping vegetables from the earth and leaving them piled on the ground for washing. The trepidations of being discovered continued to linger, pushing away all that depression enough to stop his vision from people blurred by tears, however all hazed by the worsening hollowness of his stomach. Hastily he washed one, not even fully cleansing it of dirt, driven by his mad hunger to stuff the carrot in his mouth. And swallow.

Not even the slightest bit famished.

"W-When was the l-last time you ate?"

**"I d-don't know!" **Rob exclaimed.** "Y-You were the o-one being pampered by t-those f-freaky scientists!"**

"I wasn't b-being p-pampered."

**"Really? **_**R-Really? **_**I-I was t-there!"**

He snarled, letting his eyes fall on the mound of carrots. It wasn't even a mound, less than half the small farm of seventeen, or in his sights, fueled by a bottomless hunger, five pieces of food just waiting to be prepared and eaten…

"**P-Post haste! A-Attack!"**

No need to remind him. The dominant barely remembered hygiene, devouring each carrot not even dipped into the river water. Tasting dirt mixed with muck and cool liquid, but not feeling a full stomach, Woofless spat.

"S-Someone h-has to have an un-unappeasable hunger or really b-bad saturation."

"**N-Not me. I w-was n-never like t-this," **claimed the inferior.

"Me n-neither."

Rob leaned back and moaned, exhausted. Back trembling with the same fatigue Woofless yanked up two more carrots, washing them decently in the river this time, and munched on one on his way back inside the castle.

None saw that they were being watched.

**((((()()()()()))))**

Something was wrong. He could feel it.

Back in the flower haven the dominant leaned on the wall near the fences in case of a sudden burst in. Mitch and Jerome were gone, though it was just nerve-racking not knew _where _and the fact _nine others _could discover and mistake him.

At least that was better than three million.

But, no, that wasn't it. It was Rob, his hand grasping on his shoulder, unintentionally causing his reflection to mock the position. Head still, rigid, straight forward, eyes motionless and looking at nothing. Or the world inside another person hidden from the superior.

They couldn't focus anymore. Not with Rob pulsing anxiety.

Woofless found this baffling. Nervousness he could see – they had previously just been discussing ways to kill themselves when Rob had abruptly fallen silent, a conversation sure to chase away all wisps of ease. Even he had to admit the idea was discomforting since death in his world meant definite ends and a desperation to heal. However the residents of this How to Minecraft world seemed to view it similarly yet drastically worse. The way Mitch kept proclaiming his fear of dying. Perhaps it was feared, dreaded, avoided at all costs, especially if there were only twelve alive compared to the three million.

Or maybe Rob was thinking about personal things, things yet to be shared. Woofless couldn't fault him with that since he too had "secrets," if they were to be viewed in such a way. In different circumstances he would've told the inferior these harmless facts, however being of different worlds they were sure to return to soon he didn't find it necessary to speak of them. The Borders existed for a reason. Were they not to know of each other? Were they supposed to be apart?

Still, the details were unknown to him: what was making Rob so anxious?

He didn't like the feeling. Tightening his grip on his shoulder he lowered his gaze some, filling his sights with the floor of the flower haven. It was like a multitude of occasional dots on a canvas of green, the beauty of a poorly lit cave. The thoughts reminded him of rumors back in Living Axe that the flowers some miners gave their loved ones once returning weren't from meadows they happened to cross but sprouted in the darkest of the depths. Yellow ones, though, daises or dandelions in more likeliness. Woofless one here or there amid the grounded slapdashed rainbow.

Then he was struck with a memory. Not too immersed into it or it would've summoned an overwhelming flashback. Just the simple recollection of a day when he was fifteen, Preston eleven and still new to the kingdom, his ability to burn less controlled that it was now. Mitchell had had the fun idea to shove a bouquet of the thickest tulips colored red, orange, and yellow into the lava-mob's skin. Surprised they had caught ablaze immediately however melted into his magma skin. Weeks after he gave off a strong, ornate fragrance that drove him nuts.

Reminiscing in the memory Woofless smiled. The past had recently seemed better the present, filled with childhood fun and innocent, naiveté blinding them from the hardships of their predestined futures. Alia and an enslaved Nooch to lead the scientific parts of the kingdom, Mitch sworn into an essential part of the government, Vikk locked in knighthood to fight and kill…

Himself? He grew up too early, a single traumatic experience catapulting into a year of torture. Then Preston was given to him and helped bring back those days of being a minor, alleviate the pain he had gone through, but not enough. Was that why he clung to a dangerous humanoid he was frequently recommended to discard? He reminded him of those happy times, frustrating as he could be?

Woofless shut his eyes, lids so they tight they were analogous to being bolted together. Maybe if he was out of touch with reality enough he could stare Rob in the face and possibly actually yell at him for once. Would he even listen then?

And yet, that attempt failed.

"R-Rob," snarled the dominant harshly, "R-Rob, y-your emotions c-can a-affect me too."

Nothing.

"Rob j-just because you're i-in m-me and c-can't do anything doesn't make y-you the pa-passenger."

Still no response. He groaned.

"Rob, I-I h-hope you bl-bloody kn-know I-I can't focus w-with your f-feelings weakening m-my m-mental st-stability."

**"My b-bed."**

Woofless sighed, half-glad his reflection wasn't going to leave him to suffer in addition to shunning him.

**"W-Woof, m-my bed."**

Blinking, he stared forward, looking right at the haphazardly strew blankets. Besides that fact nothing seemed utterly wrong. "W-What about it?"

**"I-It's red." **Rob's voice was shallow, every word practically vomiting the uneasy emotion. **"M-My bed i-is r-red."**

"Cra-Crafted b-bed c-can be multiple c-colors, right? A-All colors. A-Any c-colors. Random."

Worried either way he left his stagnant position against the wall and walked forward. Under him his legs trembled with Rob's fidgety distress, every step feeling like he was approaching some imminent doom. Once there he sat on the mattress, his bum sinking into the wool with a slight depression. Within him, the inferior shrieked.

"W-W-What?!" Woofless yelped much louder than he anticipated. "W-What about your b-bed?"

**"It's r-red!"**

"B-But-"

**"Non-respawning!"**

Immediately he jumped up and tripped over his own wobbly legs, crashing to the ground, flattening innocent flowers. A loud, high-pitched screech made its way out his mouth and into the air. Glitching arms whipped over to his face before juddering again and slapping his eyes. Again he screeched.

_Why is your bed friggin' non-respawning?!_

**"I-I'm s-s-sorry! I d-didn't r-realize until w-we w-woke up!"**

_Then you should've said so sooner and I would've been out of here killing sheep!_

**"I-I'm s-sorry! I'm sorry!"**

There were two types of bed: respawning and non-respawning. Respawning beds, usually with bedsheets a great variety of colors, could bring a dead person back to life the instant they died. Back to where they had slept that night, their body would appear unscathed and perfectly healthy.

Non-respawning beds are a whole 'nother story. They're rare, thus often missed. Those could be crafted at chance or substituted the suitable beds over time. No one knew why this happened, but if a bed in which turned red was not replaced when whosever's it was were inflicted fatally, they'd die. Permanently. No redos. No exceptions. A lifeless body lying on the ground with the lethal wounds. That's why it was so important to check the color of the blankets every morning before leaving the safety of one's home. To check if they got their respawn on.

Something Rob had forgotten to do.

_So the last time you were in here you slept in a non-respawning bed?!_

**"I d-d-didn't n-notice!"**

Rolling to his backside Woofless scowling at the red covers. They were frayed already however still a wondrous shade of a grand alizarin, magnificently intertwined with the hue of the flower haven. That was how they missed it so easily – it blended in right in with this room absolutely basking in a feel of security. It was the downside to a tempting, supposedly luscious offer, one invisible until you dived right in to become ensnarled with painful thorns.

"Dammit."

**"I'm s-sor-"**

"Shut u-up."

His grimace deepened, darkened. Anger boiled under his skin as he pushed himself up to a stand. In a short eruption of fury his foot flew forward and kicked the bed. It slid back a block before smacking on the curved stone wall of this tiny cavern. Here he was always telling the TBNRfrags Preston to hold his temper when in a whole different world he was ready to kill someone.

**"K-Kill?" **Rob muttered sheepishly.

_Maybe not kill. _

Swiftly he dropped his flaring gaze and stared at the grassy floor. Something was under his shoe, a dull shade of spritzer pink, its soft material more susceptible to the forces creasing and tearing it down.

A tulip. A ruined tulip.

_ "Right here. The perfect spot, right by the bed."_

_But I've been trained how._

**"M-Mitchy…"**

Before Rob bent too far Woofless knelt to the ground, saving as much of the flower as he could. The petals had to be plucked from the stem and his fingers seemed to be ruining them more no matter how he tried smoothing them. The tulip, possibly once silky, was now leeching its juices, sticky to the touch, staining the light pink petals. It was like a wetted document now with running ink far beyond comprehensible. No longer neat. No longer beautiful. No longer lovely.

**"M-Mitch's tulip is r-ruined."**

"Rob, it's j-just a fl-flower."

Just as he had the thought to release the soiled plant remains from his fingers they tightened, stiff and painfully held together. **"It's n-not j-just a fl-flower," **the inferior retorted sharply. **"I-It's n-not. Y-You don't understand. You re-refuse to un-understand."**

"R-Rob-"

**"You d-don't un-understand. W-Woofless R-Robert, t-this isn't y-your w-world and t-these are not your gri-grieving fr-friends. A-And you w-won't un-understand wh-why I have t-to g-go to Sal-Salty La-Lagoon."**


	4. Four: We Call This World HtM

**Chapter Four - We Call This World HtM**

_"The prospect of going home is very appealing." -David Ginola_

**((((()()()()()))))**

_The syringe emptied, the cooling liquid sweeping into his veins. He felt the chill swarm his arm then spread down to his fingertips. Shaking, the little dot of crimson blood where he was injected began to trickle, a light trail of red streaking his arm. When Woofless raised his hand to wipe it away one the scientists told him to halt._

_ "It is all fine, in fact. That was just the first part of the integral. A tad bit of blood is nothing incredibly major," said he, satisfied. "Let's wait a few minutes for the drug to circle, then we'll get to the next one. Okay?" _

_ Woofless nodded nervously. As the scientist turned, he spoke up. "Can't you explain what the next part is, Alia? Just now before it happens?" _

_ The named looked towards his fellows, scarcely taking note of their shaking heads before looking back at the Woofless. "Why don't we save that description for later?"_

_ He hesitated. That seemed like a strange comment – they were usually open to him, these scientists, hardly ever hiding something from him. Then again, it was usually "what we're doing to you now" things he should've taken note of to him prepare him for any upcoming test. He had to admit they didn't sometimes, such as this present moment, for reasons beyond him. Undoubtedly because he was foreseen a commoner._

_ Perhaps not now, since this was the experiment finally in process. _The _experiment they had been working up the whole time he was here at the Facility. The one he only gained snippets of through prying his ears into the others' conversations. Enough to figure that they seemed pretty intent on not telling him._

_Still, he found his voice susurrusing shyly; "…Okay?"_

**((((()()()()()))))**

The cold was the first thing his numb senses picked up. A gnawing cold – one that wrapped around his body and squeezed hard against it, whether bare or not. A cold that crept through the air whilst it swept through his hinged mouth and nostrils with a sting. A cold that held camp within his lungs as thick as ice spikes, rooting. Staying.

Sucking in this breath of frosty chill, Woofless opened an eye, facing the culprit of these arctic temperatures. Up close the snow was almost blue in color with its compacted crystals he could observe in detail. Each little tiny gleam, glinting, twinkling a brilliance of clouded silver-

Then his senses picked up another element.

His mouth broke into a horrible, high-pitched shrieking. Egregious agony blossomed upon him as he bolted – to hands and knees, scurrying over the bitter surface like a fleeing rat. In a sense, he was.

With his heart pounding against the buzz of static, Woofless didn't stop until the Border's excruciating grasp loosened and fell away, allowing him to drop back in the snow. There he fell somewhat to calmness with the silence humming and his skin throbbing, some areas worse than other.

_Why does everything still hurt?_

**"V-Vikk slashed us i-in the f-face a-and w-we were sh-shot in t-the arm."**

Immediately his head jerked up and around, searching across the wide expanse for his reflection. All he could see here was more hills to the snowy landscape and the partially-transparent Border about twenty blocks away. Daylight had made it more see-through, allowing him to watch the vacancy of the Snowborough Province on the other side. But no Rob.

Woofless shook his head free from the sight of his world and looked back towards Rob's. It wasn't that much different for some "reflections."

**"Y-You haven't seen ev-everything," **the inferior said suddenly, quietly, uneasiness etched in his voice.

Again Woofless turned. Rob still sounded behind him yet he wasn't…

The realization sunk in like an abrupt, brand new wound. Wincing, Woofless clenched a fistful of snow, muscles rippling under a sharp pain. He looked at his upper right arm where the arrow still rested halfway within his flesh. Only a strong Power bow could do such a deep infliction and the knights of Living Axe were often trusted with ones leveled between Five and Seven.*

Yes, he was distracting himself. Huffing he gazed back at the Border, listening to the world as it hummed silence and rested a merciless cold upon him.

"O-Our plan didn't w-work, R-Rob," he admitted whist wrapping fingers around the arrow's shaft. He pulled, yelping sharply after it gave way in his hand. Glossy blood marked the wooden projectile and began pooling crimson through his blue sweater sleeve.

Woofless pressed his other hand over the injury, the one limb that wasn't injured so far. "W-Why didn't y-you t-tell me t-the Border hurt so m-much t-to cross?"

**"What?" **snapped Rob **"H-How am I-I s-supposed to kn-know?"**

"If I-I r-remember correctly D-Doctor Alia s-said he needed to br-bring you t-to the F-Facility so t-the ex-experiment would work. That requires y-you t-to be br-brought athwart t-the B-Border t-to get t-there."

**"How d-do you think I g-got a-across?"**

"M-My assumptions a-are t-the old w-way t-the sci-scientists did cr-crossings just to complete t-the process."

**"Well your a-assumptions are wr-wrong. And I-I d-don't know h-how I-I was brought into y-your w-world."**

"Y-You don't?"

**"No. I w-was RKOed b-by y-your kn-knight friends."**

"F-First, t-they're not my friends. A-And s-second, what is RKO?"

Rob sighed. **"They kn-knocked m-me out and I woke i-in y-your body. A-And 'fr-friends' is a-an expression."**

"W-Well…" Woofless removed his hand, staring at a red palm. "What do we d-do n-now?"

**"I d-don't know."**

Both their shoulders sagged – Woofless could feel the inferior's sink too, almost like a second set of shoulders in his back. A second set of limbs on his legs and arms. A second head supported by a second neck on his own.

That heavy feeling was real. Physical and emotional. "C-Cumbersome."

Their previous plan was the result of Woofless's skills as an eavesdropper, having overheard the scientists say they didn't want to test if the merging actually worked until Rob was nullified. Something about him already "soiling the whole project." So they had thought that by attempting to cross the Border now instead of when Rob was nullified they would split. Admittedly none of them had thought of what to do after they reversed the experiments' results like Woofless returning to Living Axe with a criminal record, but they had to get out the Facility fast. That or leave the inferior to "nullification" only interpreted as death.

Woofless raised his crimson-painted hand to another region where pain was beginning to wake – the right side of his face. Where Rob had said Vikk had struck him felt as rough as gravel under his fingers. Slowly he traced it up from him chin, rising diagonally until the crusted laceration had stopped at him temple. Grainy terrain on a smooth surface. When he lowered his fingers to look he found some of the scabbing had come off as dark red and somewhat black crumbs.

**"V-Vikk h-hit r-really hard," **Rob noted quietly. **"I d-don't think he w-wanted y-you to cr-cross."**

"Who would?" Woofless took another stare the Border. Through it he could see the flatland of the Snowborough Province where its snowy surface seemed disturbed by haphazard prints and trenches. Probably made from himself when he fell. "Vikk l-looked shocked."

**"H-He pr-probably didn't ex-expect you t-to b-be able t-to get through."**

"They didn't t-tell h-him what t-the experiment did to m-me, m-more likely. T-They h-hardly explained a-anything t-to me. It's s-supposed to b-be s-secret until r-ready."

**"A-At least I ruined it."**

At that, Woofless froze. His eyes widened, though not much, and were kept towards the empty world he had come from as though he were in shock. It was only horrid thoughts bestowed upon him that pulled out such a reaction. He was far from shocked.

Only stricken.

Border crossings were impossible besides those random freak occurrences of people who supposedly surpassed the pain and somehow just fell through. It was even rarer for the latter to even happen, but it did; Woofless could recall at least three or four accounts of the daring but unlucky ones the Borders seemed to have absorbed for "disrespecting them" or some analogy like that in his lifetime. There were more even beyond his years, however they all concluded with egregious, excruciating screams hand-and-hand with a quick death. A corpse on the other side of the Borders no one could ever reach or they do would die.

Was that what the scientists had expected since Rob's presence had somehow ruined the experiment? With Rob active Woofless would die after crossing the Borders? Was that why they waited to find a permanent way to nullify Rob, so all their precious work done in a period of two months wouldn't go to waste in seconds?

And the residents of the kingdom, the civilians, his friends, his father – the unbeknownst vulgus – what were they thinking? Word would get to them, no matter how hard the scientists with the king's backup tried to cut it off, that their Robert had fled from the Facility and for some reason played as another sacrifice as a reminder to stay within these confines. Most definitely they would never receive any sort of explanation regarding the experiment, the questions simply adding to their grief, believing he was dead.

There wasn't any way of softening this presumed notion. Everyone back home would sooner or later believe he had died in this "emptiness" outside the Borders with no way to retrieve them. He couldn't go back and tell them – he had to get Rob out of his body plus going back through the Borders would be utterly impossible in this weakened state. Even if he could the knights would certainly snatch him and return him to the scientists who would then kill Rob. A chain of events he had to avoid.

He had to let them think he was dead.

For now, he told himself. Just for now. Figure out how to split Rob, do it, and go back to Living Axe. Captured or not the scientists won't be able to conduct their plans anymore with their work undone.

Still, the very thought… how long would he be gone anyways? And crossing the Border prematurely hadn't split the two as predicted. _What now, Rob? Any ideas?_

Pressing his hand over the bleeding arm, Woofless hesitantly turned away from the Border, aiming his sights at the tundra. In an area where no hills had formed water sloshed far in the distance. He couldn't tell what body of water it was though doubted an ocean based on the flashes of Rob's memories he had had containing open plains, dark roofed forests, and newly-assembled structures. And if this turned out that he had arrived on a frozen island he and his exhausted body would remain here.

They had to think of something.

"R-Rob," Woofless began. "How many p-people are i-in y-your w-world?"

The inferior stayed silent. Whilst in wait, his reflection finally felt the shuddering he had been overlooking. Something unpleasant.

"Rob-"

**"Y-You s-said something?" **

Promptly his anxious shivering stopped. The childish edge to his voice was gone, replaced by the quiet response. Woofless made no reference to it.

"I-I a-asked h-how many p-people are in your w-world. I m-mean, if y-you're n-not sure j-just g-guess."

"**Eleven."**

Woofless blinked. "E-Eleven?"

"**I-Including me t-that's tw-twelve." **

As Rob's dullen yet comical smile forced Woofless's lips to twitch he lifted his unscathed arm, scratching the back of his head in bafflement. "I-I thoughts all t-the kingdom's citizen's reflections would be h-here. L-Like the three m-million-"

"**B-Bound to be d-different, r-remember?"**

"St-Still, t-this is a pr-problem, Rob. Tw-Twelve t-to three mil-million. That s-sounds like m-mass murder or some apocalypse o-occurred. A-Am I r-right? W-What i-is your world?"

The pestering inquiries forced Rob into silence again. Woofless groaned, expecting him to be quiet for a while, nearly jumping at the quick response; **"How to M-Minecraft. HtM f-for sh-short." **

"H-How to Minecraft?" He was artfully baffled now. "H-How d-do you do a n-noun? O-Or is this 'M-Minecraft' a verb?

"**It's sh-short f-for Minecraftia."**

"M-Minecraftia?"

The inferior shook his head, both of irritation and fighting off his reflection's confusion. This was going to be another long explanation of something he would have difficulty understanding. **"N-Nevermind. Hey, can w-we m-move? I'm g-getting bored."**

Rob's impatience was starting to gnaw on him. Woofless couldn't take the feeling of his limbs about to burst and stood silently, wincing momentarily when pushing his weight on his injured upper body, swaying a little on shaky legs to the point they nearly gave in on him. Either way he still had to satisfy his substandard reflection and began tottering towards the water.

"**That's b-better."**

"N-No, R-Rob. It's n-not." The dominant raised his right arm, wincing harshly at still-bleeding arrow wound, and met sight with his wrist. Being in the snow probably eased the burn down to where it was no longer festering greatly in pain. Now the nasty red weals had cooled some into throbbing flesh tinted lightly in purple, however still marked with blisters. "We can't a-act like w-were sta-staying t-together forever – we n-need to spl-split."

**"H-How are you g-gonna sp-split us? The B-Border d-didn't d-do it f-for us."**

"I know, s-so w-we need t-to think of s-something."

**"Think."**

At that Woofless felt Rob trying to raise his-their injured arm, something he sensed as the chin-stroking ponderer position. It was too much. Trying to resist he bit his tongue and crossed his arms in hopes of stopping the convulsions, exerting a force that was too much for the battered limbs. They twitched to make that movement until they convulsed together like a tight pretzels, powerful waves carrying absolute agony all over to the point Woofless's eyes began watering. "R-R-Rob, t-this is a-a-agonizing-"

**"I kn-know, s-sorry b-bout that."**

"T-then what the h-hell a-are you d-d-doing?"

**"T-Thinkin-"**

"Killing m-me-"

**"That's i-it!"**

The moment Rob dropped his arms his reflection followed suit by collapsing in the snow. They both groaned, only for his head to twitch upwards, staring directly at the far-off water. **"T-That's it!" **he exclaimed. **"W-We n-need to kill our-ourselves!"**

Stretching his tender arms Woofless whipped back his head as though to stare at the inferior again. "Pl-Please t-t-tell me you're n-not serious."

Rob shook his head, causing Woofless to wince. **"I-If we die w-we m-might r-respawn separated."**

"We d-don't h-h-have respawn. The sci-scientists t-t-took it fr-from me with t-that in-injection, recall?"

Putting the problem aside though, it wasn't a bad idea, he had to admit. He could see Rob's reasoning: respawn set anyone who had just died of lethal wounds into a healthier reincarnation of themselves. Though it didn't spare sicknesses and sometimes didn't mend every past injury, it was the new body ideal that was spiking the inferior's consideration.

Thing was, the scientists took respawn from Woofless, and who said Rob had any in turn? If they die now, they're truly dead.

Would it even work?

Either way it was a measly straw to grasp at.

"W-We n-need to g-get r-respawn f-first," he stated, pushing himself off the snowy ground, some of it clinging to his hair and clothes. "So w-we need a b-bed. W-We need w-wood a-and sh-sheep."

**"We c-could g-go t-to my home."**

Woofless almost dropped again, having been standing. Hands reached out trying to clutch a nonexistent grip but he barely managed to keep his balance anyways. "I-I'm your r-reflection, n-not the R-Robert y-your fr-friends are ex-expecting."

**"We d-don't have to meet t-them." **Rob assured. **"J-Just go t-to m-my b-bed, sleep i-in it, k-kill ourselves, a-and r-respawn apart. T-Then you just g-go b-back to y-your w-world. I-If they see t-two o-of us then I-I'll j-just say it's the Du-Duplicating Glitch."**

He sounded down about it, but the reflection didn't say anything, thinking Rob was homesick. Simply nodding in reluctant agreement he looked at the foliage uneasily. "I-If you t-think t-that's the b-best option…"

**"I j-just w-want to s-see my friends a-again. T-Then w-we'll be separated a-and you g-go s-see your fr-friends."**

Oh, if only it was that easy.

**((((()()()()()))))**

_ Rob smoothed another clay pillar, thanking the frigid wind for drying it so quickly. _

_ "Salty Lagoon v2 incoming," he said to himself while pulling a newly frozen-over ice block from the pool. Just as he placed it in the chest he heard feet tromping in the thick layer of snow. He jerked around._

_ "Hello?" he called. "Who's there?"_

_ Nobody answered him. Curious, Rob rubbed his gloved hands together for warmth and peered over the mountainside. There was no one to his left, none to the right of up ahead, but behind…_

_ Three – no four – four men in white cloaks and winter wear were marching up the rocky slope, followed by a pair of horse riders in enchanted iron armor except for diamond chestplates. The chestnut colored horses had a menace to them, all six people staring at the ground._

_ "Hey!" Rob called, waving a hand. "Hey, are you new here?"_

_ Of course they couldn't be new; Rob realized that almost immediately after spitting out his greeting. They possessed a somewhat veteran feel in their appearance, however made no sense of familiarity arise in him. To Rob, they were, to the very least, new. Besides, if they had freshly arrived wouldn't they be in the spawn village as he and his friends had, not so far away?_

_ "Hello?" _

_ Again they refused to answer. _Now _Rob drew his sword, unease starting to swell. "Hey, look. If you need anything, just ask, okay? Don't gotta be so… sleer." _

**((((()()()()()))))**

**"Wh-When w-we g-got here Tyler, Vikk, Sc-Scott, and Ry-Ryan m-made a b-bunch of maps and r-rode around a-as much as t-they c-could to fill t-them. They d-didn't g-go ver-very far but ev-everyone's g-got a copy. I d-don't have mine b-but I l-looked it over a b-bunch."**

Trying to seem like he was listening to his reflection's edgy ramblings, Woofless nodded whilst climbed up another hill, pushing away a sticky vine that swung onto his forehead. Shuddering he wiped with the back of his hand, pulling back with a sort of slimy green following suit, bridging across.

"**T-There's usually a l-lot of sli-slimes h-here."**

He bit his tongue – not in disgust – and swallowed back the bitter vomit that had tried escaping again. Once down he spat to the muddy grass before wiping his hand on a tree, only to pull back to find more goo sticking.

_I bloody hate this place._

A day of walking had led them into swamplands enriched with birch trees beside a mountain biome, far from the Border – thankfully – which according to Rob they were coming close.

_Yes, please._

Smearing his palm over his pants leg, Woofless trudged onwards, one of his eyes shut. His arms weren't sore from the inferior's tribulation anymore, though another pain had begun encasing him. It lacked the sharpness the other physical injuries carried with however far more deteriorating, agonizing in its own special way.

He knew it would come back. The scientists had said it was simply an unforeseen side-effect with the experiment that they, of course, alluded wordlessly to blaming on Rob's activity. Once it had become known all Woofless was put through were since were other sorts of experiments. They were undoubtedly minor compared to the merging, most of them worked based on their task: subdue Woofless's ailment, nullify Rob. The last part they didn't say but it turned obvious whenever Woofless would begin feeling better and Rob would proclaim feelings of numbness and discomfort.

Since, all trust in the Facility had climbed onto a hastily-descending minecart heading nonstop. Even to the point of resisting them.

"He'll learn," they had assumed.

Yes, learn to bear the migraines that had just started scratching at his skull. Learn to shut his mouth whenever his stomach convulsed like a trembling bow string after an arrow had flown from it. Learn to strive on as the strength in his already-fragile body seemed to crumple to dust ever-so-slowly. He had to. He had no other choice. That or let the scientists kill his reflection.

This was the better choice.

_"Robert is my friend."_

_ "So is he to me."_

_ "No, he isn't. Friends would not hurt friends for 'scientific purposes' that'll please the rich and greedy monarchs."_

"_That is not my intentions thus far."_

"_What I'm saying is if you are attempting to use me and my skills for _the third time _to harm him I will not be a part of this."_

"_But Nooch, see, you have no choice. You have been set under _my _commands. And besides, what we require you for will not be harmful to Robert. It will end his glitching and he will no longer suffer."_

"_He will if this goes as planned and you commence torturing him again."_

_With that Doctor Alia's voice turned harsh, a dark snarl. "I can and will file more charges. Another offense known public against a humanoid will lead to your execution, possibly to the point Mitchell will be unable to sway opinions. Also, I have the power to shut down your circuitry. That or you abide my orders. Do I have your complete comprehension?"_

The flashback was sudden and unexpected, seemingly a suitable catalyst to his condition. Abruptly after falling out of it he bent over, the convulsions in his stomach worsening, releasing a heat that rose up through his throat in acidity. Weakened, unable to hold back, Woofless crouched low and opened his mouth to puke, surprised to find the bile retreating back down his throat. Retching up nothing he collapsed to the ground to the unrelenting mercy of horrendous headthrobs and boiling acidity swarming his insides.

He couldn't move. He couldn't, couldn't, _couldn't. _

**"D-Don't, d-don't. I-I need y-you m-moving. You c-can d-do it, y-you c-can do it."**

The dominant spat out a thin mix of saliva and vomit, agitated. "T-T-Then y-you tr-try a-and move with a b-burden that's you, R-Rob."

**"D-Did I ask t-to b-be your burden?"**

"No, b-b-but-"

A voice cut the two off. Woofless jerked up, coughing into his bloody sleeve before dashing behind a tree. He peered around, moribund eyes tracking the marshy landscape. No one.

_I definitely heard someone._

Rob dimly raised his arm, cupping his ear, driving Woofless do the same with no opposition. The dull clamping of horse hooves tickled their senses, forcing him to duck back into the trees and stare at down towards the slim area between two hills. A river was beginning there with a few source blocks widening and opening up with the carved land. Down the hill directly next to them there were two people.

A person in a peculiar bat costume led a black spotted-white horse down the stream, the horse mounted by a blond in enchanted iron leggings. The animal was rearing his head back and forth, trying to free itself from the reins, only to prove futile.

"You sure this is a good idea?" the blond rider asked. He smoothed his hand along the horse's side, but its nightly tail flew up and smacked his back. "Hops doesn't seem to like us."

**"R-Ryan and L-Lachlan a-are s-stealing Hops!"**

"I-Isn't H-Hops in Craft's p-possession?" Woofless asked silently, puzzled over the inferior's sudden anger.

**"W-What, no! **_**I **_**found H-Hops a-and k-kept him! T-That horse is aw-awesome! T-They just can't take h-him like he c-came from t-the wild!"**

Ryan turned and faced his Australian friend, walking backwards with his black cape fluttering, seemingly answering both questions. "Well we can't keep him cooped up in that cave Rob had him in all the time," he stated. "That's just abuse. He just needs some open air sometimes to stretch his legs and whatever else horses do."

"Yes, but," Lachlan's blue pupils fell on one of the horse's glaring eyes. "I don't think Hops is ready for a new owner."

"We're not _keeping _him, remember? We just need to make sure he keeps healthy. I'm sure Rob would want that."

If he could've, Woofless would've faced his reflection right now. "W-What are t-t-they t-talking about?"

Rob didn't answer. Sighing, the dominant followed the two as they walked, rubbing his stomach as the side-effects began to drift away. Even though he kept to the trees along the shore, Hops ended up looking at them with his dark eyes and, more often, trying to walk to him.

"Stop it," ordered Lachlan when the horse went off track again. He pulled on his reins, earning a one-way ticket of getting buckled off.

The sun began its descend when the path along the river turned . Rob let spirits soar, giving Woofless more energy to push onwards. Then there, in front of them, materialized a castle.

Or some sorry excuse for a castle.

**"Looks l-like the p-placed missed me." **

It was tall, but not huge where it was equivalent to a skyscraper. Stone brick pillars about a block in width emerged from a mountainside where plants and dirt reached around like fingers. Few vines swayed in a sudden breeze. Some of the bricks had fallen victim to time and were left with cracks and sheen moss to conquer them, however most appeared to have been freshly crafted and placed, especially those near the two-block tall entrance.

**"A-Amazing isn't it?"**

"Y-Yeah," lied Woofless, watching Ryan and Lachlan lead Hops into a cave lined with spruce wood doors. "You b-built this?"

Rob shook his head, making Woofless's wobble harshly. **"I-I was l-looking f-for a pl-place to build m-my h-house when I f-found this. I-It's j-just the f-face of s-some ol-old c-castle but I'm r-restoring i-it. I t-thought it'd l-look better kept overgr-overgrown."**

"R-Really? I-I a-assumed you w-weren't a g-good h-housekeeper."

While Rob laughed, Woofless bit his cheek and crept closer, spying on Ryan and Lachlan as the two walked out the cave. The former stared up at the decrepit castle, sighing. "I miss him."

Lachlan hesitated, sucking in air. Then he breathed: "I miss him too."

Patting his friend's back, Lachlan lead them both into the entrance where they vanished, their steps slow and undulating.

**"T-They'll be t-taking the t-train back to the S-Salty Lagoon," **Rob stated.

Woofless found this shocking. "You h-have a t-train i-in that castle? H-How?"

**"It's r-really a m-minecart track," **clarified Rob.** "W-Went through three d-diamond pickaxes m-making it."**

"On your o-own?"

"**I-It's easy."**

Taking tentative steps, he slid down the hillside, kicking up carrots from the petty farm. The sight of the food, as dirty as it was, made both of their stomachs growl.

"Just o-one."

**"Two."**

"T-Two?"

**"N-No, three. I-I'm starving."**

"M-make it four t-then."

**"You'll have t-to r-replant them."**

"Later."

**"D-Deal."**

His hands yanked up a couple more muddy vegetables, giving them a nice hard scrub in the river water. Once clean, Woofless literally shoved them in his mouth, chewing quickly yet savoring the fresh taste, and swallowed. Both he and the inferior shuddered, Rob begging for more.

"C-Carrots aren't t-that filling," noted Woofless as he prepared another two. Nonetheless, he ate them, but his stomach remained ravenous.

"Who's st-still h-hungry, you o-or me?"

**"C-Can't tell."**

Groaning, Woofless dug his fingers in the dirt, only for Rob to stop him. **"There m-may b-be steak or p-porkchops in one of m-my c-chests."**

"I-In your 'c-castle'?"

**"Yes."**

"B-But t-the others…"

**"T-They w-won't see us." **

Hoping Rob was right Woofless sighed again and got up, jumping across the lilypads to the landing made of stone bricks and andesite. Just as he pushed away the gate, his pair retorted, **"You s-sigh too m-much." **

"It's n-not easy with you in m-me- OH MY GOD."

The sight of the dungeon made the dominant fall back. Laughing, Rob helped him pick back up with his own subordinate, mocking motions, noting, **"Nothing will sp-spawn b-because the light l-levels are too high." **

"D-Didn't see t-that."

Still overly cautious he crept into the mossy cobble room. Smack dab in the center was an inactive spider spawner, surrounded by common home entities; two cold dusty furnaces, a crafting table, an anvil, and four chests stacked on top of one another. On the wall next to him were several signs, ones that hit the two with familiarity.

_ -Cow &amp; Chicken Farm_

_ -Sugar Cane Farm_

_ -Get Diamonds_

_ -1v1 Preston_

_ -Build storage room_

_ -Become king_

For a moment he felt himself sitting on the spawner, being Rob, figuring out and writing down goals to achieve. A smile rose on his face at a brief feeling of pride. Imagining himself actually _accomplishing _them, no matter how silly the last one seemed, felt _good, _a rest from this stress.

Except the longer Woofless looked at them, the more unease that began to swell from his pair.

"You o-okay, R-Rob?"

Faintly he felt Rob shake his head.

"H-How m-many of t-these d-did you-"

**"T-Two and a-a h-half."**

"Well…" Woofless scratched the back of his head. He wasn't really the optimistic type and it was a bit obvious why Rob was feeling down. "W-We'll b-be spl-split soon, t-then you c-can w-work on them. K-Kay?"

After waiting for an answer and getting none, he searched through all four large chests, shuffling through an unorganized heap of items. Stomachs grumbling.

_Why is my reflection so untidy and needy?_

**"I heard t-that." **

"Whatever. W-We'll eat later. Where's your b-bed?"

**"Go through t-there. Behind the e-enchantment t-table bookshelves."**

Raising his faux arm made Woofless's real arm twitch, aimed at a two-block opening behind them. The dominant one followed it, turned, and gasped.

What lay ahead was an underground haven. A little waterfall flowed from the stone walls into a grassy meadow. Flowers of many colors sprang up from the ground, bringing splendor to the skyless paradise. There was no need to duck, the stone ceiling rose high enough. Even the obsidian enchantment table and two layers of bookshelves didn't seem out of place; it was nature-like plenty. Nearly completely concealed behind it was a typical crafted bed with red covers made neat.

"D-Did you m-make t-this?"

Rob smiled, shedding his sorrow and making Woofless's cheeks burn with the joy. **"S-Strangely I-I found it myself while d-digging around. S-See that staircase r-right there? I was g-going to m-make that a p-potions room."**

Woofless turned and took note of a plain stone staircase built three-by-three style to his left, ending with a single brewing stand. It seemed dreadfully out of place. "I-I'd make it t-that storage r-room if I-I w-were you. A-Actually I _am _y-you… i-in a w-way."

**"Y-You f-fail being f-funny."**

He scowled then immediately blanked his face. He wasn't trying to be funny which, besides, there was no time to be so. Maybe Rob was trying to lighten the mood again.

It was senseless.

"**Hey."**

Ignoring his reflection, Woofless and his limping gait staggered towards the bookshelves, hopping over them and onto the mattress. Under his legs the blankets were soft and when he rested his head all the exhaustion that had been nagging at him before consumed him. In seconds he had passed out.

As for Rob, the inferior quickly tried pulling himself away from the dominant, attempting to stay awake and be some form of separated from his host. Though the attempt was futile, resulting in all that overwhelmed Woofless to drag him forcefully into a slumber too.

* * *

_***In this multiverse enchantments can surpass the Five, Four, One, and Three limits seen the game via natural enchanting other than anvils, identified based on enchantment color deepness. For example Silk Touch One is in a light shade of pink and can still cut through blocks cleanly, however not as cleanly as Silk Touch Eight which can make the pickaxe shimmer a magenta. The highest ever enchantment ever seen in this multiverse was Sharpness Thirty-Eight which had made a stone sword appear to have been made of lapis and easily decapitated opponents.**_

**A/N: I apologize if there are any errors I wrote it while sick and still is sick and school just ending barely two days ago hows my luck none at all can I enjoy the beginning of summer in good health please nope dammit.**

**In other news that means I'll have more time to write this story which may mean more frequent updates please remember I don't have a schedule don't rush me and yes i am aware of H2M but I'm more likely not gonna be writing anything based on it dont ask questions I'm sick.**

**Hoped you enjoyed! And your body isn't working against you.**

**_P.S. I had a dream about the Pack and 4 of them died by the end of it, three by triple-suicide to save the world. Typical dreams for me. I'm actually not kidding. If you can guess who lived have cookies made by my diseased hands._**


	5. Five: Awaiting Slaughter

**Chapter Five – **_**Awaiting Slaughter**_

"_What happens to a dream deferred?" –Langston Hughes, _Dream Deferred

_Woofless watched as Doctor Alia ushered more and more scientists out the room until there were only two – him and another, face partially hidden by long hair. He held a second syringe, the contents within hidden by massive gloved hands._

_ Now he was beginning to get nervous. "Why did you tell them to leave?"_

_ Alia smiled. "Don't fret, it's only a precaution. Part two might not work well if there's too many people causing a commotion, then our following plans may end up going as a disaster. We can't have that, can we?"_

_ "No. But-"_

_ "It's all I asked for, an answer. Nothing more, nothing less." He turned to his partner in crime. "Now then-"_

_ "Hold on!" Woofless cried much louder than intended, his hands flashing in the air._

_ An irritated hiss left the doctor. Turning, he muttered under clenched teeth, "Wait for what? Isn't this what you came forward for? We just need you to cooperate, and it won't work if you tense up."_

_ Woofless shuddered. "I'm sorry, but I have another question. A quick inquiry. Is that alright?"_

_ "Hit me."_

_ He did feel like hitting the doctor now, but he drew a deep breath, trying to stall for as much as possible. "My pair. He's needed for the experiment, or it won't work, right?"_

_ Both of the scientists nodded expressionlessly. If they were normal they'd appear startled; Woofless wasn't to know that._

_ "And he has to be my reflection, right?"_

_ Doctor Alia cocked his head, eyes narrowing. "How did you come to such conclusion?"_

_ "I overheard you talking about how he was outside the Western World Border, so I figured he had to be my reflection." He blinked, looking for any sign of shock in the doctor's face. There was none. "I mean… it's only a theory. It's not possible, people outside the Borders. They said everything is dead out there if there is anything. I probably just misheard you guys; I apologize for eavesdropping."_

"_They don't know any better."_

_Woofless blinked. That actually… worked? "What do you mean?"_

_Straightening his head the doctor crossed his arms, explaining, "The reason people die when they cross the Borders is because they do not belong on the other side. They were born within them therefore immune to them. Because they suffered exterior to the Borders they assumed no one else could, in which the conjecture that everything out there is 'dead.' In truth, everything out there is as alive as citizens of neighboring kingdoms. Like other kingdoms, more particularly, just different regions I refer to as worlds._

"_Believe me; I was too taken aback discovering the existence of the other worlds, even more that some contained 'reflections.' You've heard the theory, obviously you know the thought of people lingering in these worlds are just like us? As far as I am concerned that isn't always true. I may've not crossed into these other worlds myself however I am aware that these reflections are not… accurate. I call them imprecise reflections. Bound to be different in personality though alike in appearance."_

_ "If you've never went to these other worlds how do you know this?"_

_ Alia set a hand on Woof's shoulder, gray to brown eyes meeting. "True, but we've had a previous way of crossing the Borders tested on other people, but it's very expensive and isn't safe. Even the king has gone wary. That's why we need you and your reflection, to make sure our next method does work as it should. And our calculations have no errors thus far."_

_ "What about him?"_

_ "You'll never meet him. If you do, we predict there'll be dire consequences we'd rather not encounter. There is a method for impunity, which is what follows, and you need to be… need to be unresponsive for that. Now lean back. If you're interested in learning more we can hold a conversation later but this is not the time."_

_ Discomfort began to swell. Nonetheless Woofless left his sitting position and rested flat on the metal table, staring past the two men and directly at the ceiling. It felt chilly before, and he liked it that way, but now it felt deathly cold._

_ All that preparing from the last couple of months had come down to this. Whatever it was. _

_ A gloved finger pressed onto his arm, searching for a blood vessel until it pounded against plastic. After a quiet order of "here" the finger slithered off and his skin gave way to sharpness. Woofless could feel the pressure of the second scientist pushing slowly on the top of the syringe, letting the liquid slide into the arm, covered by a hand._

_ Then he pulled back._

_ Something was wrong. Woofless felt it immediately, his arm starting to sizzle and burn. Weakness swept over him as whatever he was injected with spread, his heart thudding in his ears, fighting against it. His stomach curled into knots in urge to vomit out the thing that was wrong._

_ Woofless jerked upward, opposing Alia's wishes, and screamed in horrendous agony. He spat incoming saliva, curling in fetal position, crying out with pain. _

_ His head began to hurt worse. As Woofless sought around with his moribund eyes everything blurred together, fogging, obscuring. Nebulous words meant nothing to him, except for his chest caving in, his heart beating faster and faster without a pace-_

_ Finally he fell off the table, moaning, wishing for death, the realization hitting him._

_ They poisoned him. The scientists. He needed to be "unresponsive" for the experiment's third component when, in reality, they needed him dead._

_ He was going to die._

_ Was this why they barely told him anything? Did they figure that he would put two and two together and start resisting them? He would. He so would._

_ It was too late now. _

_ Wheezing, retching up a mix of saliva and bile, Woofless jerked his head up, finding the doctor's gray gaze trained upon him. Smirking._

**((((()()()()()))))**

Even before he had a chance to open his eyes all agony fell on him. Stomach convulsing, temples throbbing, burning-hot tears bursting free and cutting clean marks down his dirty face. He screamed.

It was almost as if the effects of the poison had jumped from the past and into the present. Perhaps it had, or simply spiked his body to indulge in the side-effects it couldn't evade for long.

Somewhere far back within Rob was shouting but for the dominant that was far beyond him. Crying out again, eyelids jerking open, he tumbled out the bed with flailing and glitching limbs. His feral body rolled over the bookshelves and finally fell, hitting and smacking to the floor where he began coughing and retching up thick mucus that splattered over his face. His head pounded against the hard obsidian side of the enchantment table, back and forth with the leathery and wooden feel of the bookshelves with ever painful, lurching glitch-

Then as sudden as it came, it left.

Like an abrupt death his body stilled, left with throbbing nerves and lungs that stung harshly to breathe. The little task of groaning forced sharpened waves throughout his whole neck that swam up to his head. So deeply within the first anguish he didn't even budge, quiet again except for pounding ears. Drool crept down from the corners of his hinged mouth, blending with those decorating the floor and his face.

"**W-W-Woofless?"**

The called moaned.

"**Can y-you m-move?"**

Again he moaned except this time it sounded more like a dry whimper. _Now Rob? Really?_

"**N-No, I j-just… d-d-don't really l-like t-this spot. We will b-be s-seen here."**

_Will? Do your friends come and burst into your place often?_

"**I t-think t-they've been n-now."**

Deciding not to bother making sounds from his pummeled body again, the dominant growled silently. _Why now?_

"**B-Because I-I'm… g-gone to t-them. I think t-they've been t-taking c-care of my st-stuff l-like Ryan a-and L-Lachlan w-were walking m-my h-horse yes-yesterday. We can't b-be seen until w-we spl-split, r-remember?"**

Yes he remembered. The side-effects didn't chase that from his mind. He also remembered the long expressions bestowed on the pair's faces. How Ryan had said _"I miss him."_

Rob was probably kidnapped by the knights abruptly. Knocked out – RKOed – and brought into a different world leaving behind an unexplained disappearance. That was the definition of kidnapping surely, or Woofless didn't know what else. And based on what he's heard about past abductions these twelve "How to Minecraft" friends of Rob would be either depressed or seeking out the abductor.

They couldn't find him, though. _I'm gone to them._

Sucking in a deep breath Woofless pushed himself off the ground, muscles fighting against movement, the one job they were made to do. Once on his feet he swayed and hastily clutched the bookshelves to prevent toppling. A migraine pounded upon his head like ever aching footstep he made away from the enchantment table and across the flowered floor until he leaned over the fences blocking the ugly potions room. There he coughed. Hard.

"**Sm-Smart."**

He discarded the comment and swung his legs over the wooden barrier, now on the other side. Slowly he walked down the few stoneblock steps, all that was him stiff and bleated, and leaned against the walls as he slid down it. Knees bent, body numbing, bum to the ground, the reflection passed out.

**((((()()()()()))))**

"I don't want to be in here, Mitch."

It was the first voice that broke them from slumber. The second made the dominant's eyes snap open. Scared.

"Just… Just here. Right here. The perfect spot, right by the bed."

His twitching feet nearly knocked the brewing stand over. Shakily he tucked them closer to himself, head veiled slightly behind folded knees. Right now he was so glad he had moved himself or these two would've found the wrong Rob. One he recognized as the BajanCanadian, the other unknown to him, the voice unrecognizable.

"Go ahead. Don't… Don't take too long, okay? Please. It hurts to be in here. It really, really hurts."

Something felt… off. The longer he was curled up in the meager potions room the more it seemed to creep up on him. His skin prickled goosebumps in discomfort and, inside him, Rob sniffed.

"You don't have to be in here. I want… I want to be alone."

"I'm never leaving you, Biggums. I can't."

"You don't have to be in here."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

_Why?_

Woofless resisted to urge to tilt his head, only keeping himself absolutely still as though the slightest movement would attract attention. Even the inferior was keeping silent besides his sniffing. Both remained pressed low against the corner, one on the verge of tears by knowledge, the other confused.

_Why can't Mitch be left alone? Mine could make this person disappear in a harsh order. What's wrong with this one?_

**"He m-misses m-me."**

There was a sigh, more likely from the Canadian, followed closely by a hush. Nervously Woofless raised his head, still far from seeing out the pocket of space he was so blatantly concealed in but his ears could pick up noise more easily. A soft, crunching noise, like grass being shuffled around.

"He…" started the voice unknown to the reflection. "He… isn't going to see this."

"Jerome… please… don't remind me."

_Jerome?_

His inquiry wasn't given answers, no more clues provided. The two didn't speak after that besides the shuffling noise which, in turn, ended within forty or so seconds. Total silence settled in after that, muteness from the pair, perhaps even still, motionless…

Mitch sighed.

"He… He helped with finishing my house… mostly," the Canadian recollected gravely. "The design was all him… some of the materials too. He just… he wanted me to use brown clay but we don't got cocoa beans."

"Tyler said there is a jungle in the server, right?"

"I know, only it was three days away, even on horseback. So I… I told Rob not to worry… maybe I should've…"

"It can just be the two of us, us go," Jerome quickly interrupted. "I mean… us go to the jungle. Merome, us two, to the jungle, on an adventure." He spoke awkward and in shots, the voice of one trying hard to stay somewhat cheery when in reality he was on the brink of weeping himself. "Like think of the sights we can see, the sky, the beauty, us two. Just us two to the jungle, to-to the jungle. Us to the jungle, just us two."

"I-"

"It's just to get away from here. It's hurting you, Biggums. I hate seeing you cry, I hate seeing you sitting on this non-respawning bed planting flowers Rob isn't going to see. We need to get away, think about other things-"

"What other things?"

No response.

"There's nothing else to think about here. We're just trapped here… trapped and stuck like animals with no way out… just pathetically stupid animals awaiting slaughter, one by one-"

"M-Mitch don't _think _like that!"

"There's nothing else to think!"

"Yes there is!"

"Then tell me! Tell me what else to think about besides we're all gonna die here and no one will know because we'll be too dead to tell even if help ever comes for us because we've been trapped here!"

"…We don't have to be-"

"We're treating this place like we'll be stuck here forever unless those things sneak up on us like they did to Rob! That's what Rob did! He built this home and now he's gone! There's nothing else to think about, he's _gone!_"

He wailed, breaking down into sobs immediately after. Jerome didn't respond, keeping himself silent, the air vibrating his friend's wordless cries to more people than he thought.

**"M-Mitchy…"**

Woofless bit his tongue, tears creeping upon his face, sliding down his cheeks of grit. With Rob he trembled as the inferior's emotions crept up upon him, ready to spill over into dominance, ready to cry.

_Stop, Rob, please._

Unsteadily Woofless shook his head and clenched his eyes, forcing back the inferior's influence. _He _was the superior reflection. So what if the scientists had told him that? This was _his _body, it was the truth, and he wasn't about to let the control be stolen, his thought processes muddled, not while battling utter confusion.

They could hear Mitch's cries beginning to deteriorate. Not lessening – they could tell from the quiet footsteps nearly overshadowed by the noise, both sounds disappearing with every step. It was as if he was dragged away, against his will, or even without his care nor consent.

Maybe he was.

The echo in his ears though… Woofless shook his head again, trying to be rid of it. A painful echo, a strange echo, a peculiar, off echo, of weeping. To hear the BajanCanadian snivel and whimper like that was so… odd to the reflection. The one he had grown up with never cried, never seen him cry, never heard him cry. Not his Mitch.

_"Bound to be different."_

Breathing deeply, he reopened his eyes and wiped the accumulating sheen of sticky tears with the backs of his quaking hands. It did little to cleanse the filth.

**"Y-You g-got questions?"**

He jumped and whipped around, smacking his nose with the wall. Had the two not just demonstrated a tearful display the inferior would've laughed.

**"W-Woofless, I d-don't w-wanna t-think about that n-now," **sniffled Rob. **"L-Let's just get this o-over w-with." **

_Fine. _The dominant wiped another teardrop from his eyes, the melancholy psyche still clawing at him. _Jerome. He talks?_

He winced at Rob bobbing his head in yes. **"A-And w-walks on tw-two f-feet a-and wears people cl-clothes. H-He's a bacca b-but trained t-to b-be a hu-human." **Pause. Another wave of sorrow. **"T-The Jerome y-you know… doesn't?"**

_No. He's Mitch's upmost loyal pet._

**"Pet…"**

Now Rob was tottering his substantial head. At this Woofless raised fingers to his temples with tightly clenched teeth. Even with the agony pounding against his skull a new emotion was creeping in. The uneasiness of attempting to imagine a Jerome that acted like a person. The uneasiness of attempting to imagine a Jerome that acted like a pet.

**((((()()()()()))))**

He didn't really feel like inquiring further anymore. After waiting in this stiff corner in silent minutes Woofless plodded back into the main spawner room, hoping to shift their attentions towards the ever-growing hunger instead of this sadness. The aversion proved successful as rooting through the chests he heard the inferior starting to complain about the lack of food. Honestly the dominant felt like doing the same when, just like yesterday, he came upon short of anything edible.

"I'm just g-going to steal more of your c-carrots," huffed Woofless, trudging out the sopping castle. "I-I m-mean, seriously, y-you n-need to or-organize these c-chests-"

**"Not l-like I-I can."**

Oh.

His hands wrapped around more sprouts, ripping vegetables from the earth and leaving them piled on the ground for washing. The trepidations of being discovered continued to linger, pushing away all that depression enough to stop his vision from people blurred by tears, however all hazed by the worsening hollowness of his stomach. Hastily he washed one, not even fully cleansing it of dirt, driven by his mad hunger to stuff the carrot in his mouth. And swallow.

Not even the slightest bit famished.

"W-When was the l-last time you ate?"

**"I d-don't know!" **Rob exclaimed.** "Y-You were the o-one being pampered by t-those f-freaky scientists!"**

"I wasn't b-being p-pampered."

**"Really? **_**R-Really? **_**I-I was t-there!"**

He snarled, letting his eyes fall on the mound of carrots. It wasn't even a mound, less than half the small farm of seventeen, or in his sights, fueled by a bottomless hunger, five pieces of food just waiting to be prepared and eaten…

"**P-Post haste! A-Attack!"**

No need to remind him. The dominant barely remembered hygiene, devouring each carrot not even dipped into the river water. Tasting dirt mixed with muck and cool liquid, but not feeling a full stomach, Woofless spat.

"S-Someone h-has to have an un-unappeasable hunger or really b-bad saturation."

"**N-Not me. I w-was n-never like t-this," **claimed the inferior.

"Me n-neither."

Rob leaned back and moaned, exhausted. Back trembling with the same fatigue Woofless yanked up two more carrots, washing them decently in the river this time, and munched on one on his way back inside the castle.

None saw that they were being watched.

**((((()()()()()))))**

Something was wrong. He could feel it.

Back in the flower haven the dominant leaned on the wall near the fences in case of a sudden burst in. Mitch and Jerome were gone, though it was just nerve-racking not knew _where _and the fact _nine others _could discover and mistake him.

At least that was better than three million.

But, no, that wasn't it. It was Rob, his hand grasping on his shoulder, unintentionally causing his reflection to mock the position. Head still, rigid, straight forward, eyes motionless and looking at nothing. Or the world inside another person hidden from the superior.

They couldn't focus anymore. Not with Rob pulsing anxiety.

Woofless found this baffling. Nervousness he could see – they had previously just been discussing ways to kill themselves when Rob had abruptly fallen silent, a conversation sure to chase away all wisps of ease. Even he had to admit the idea was discomforting since death in his world meant definite ends and a desperation to heal. However the residents of this How to Minecraft world seemed to view it similarly yet drastically worse. The way Mitch kept proclaiming his fear of dying. Perhaps it was feared, dreaded, avoided at all costs, especially if there were only twelve alive compared to the three million.

Or maybe Rob was thinking about personal things, things yet to be shared. Woofless couldn't fault him with that since he too had "secrets," if they were to be viewed in such a way. In different circumstances he would've told the inferior these harmless facts, however being of different worlds they were sure to return to soon he didn't find it necessary to speak of them. The Borders existed for a reason. Were they not to know of each other? Were they supposed to be apart?

Still, the details were unknown to him: what was making Rob so anxious?

He didn't like the feeling. Tightening his grip on his shoulder he lowered his gaze some, filling his sights with the floor of the flower haven. It was like a multitude of occasional dots on a canvas of green, the beauty of a poorly lit cave. The thoughts reminded him of rumors back in Living Axe that the flowers some miners gave their loved ones once returning weren't from meadows they happened to cross but sprouted in the darkest of the depths. Yellow ones, though, daises or dandelions in more likeliness. Woofless one here or there amid the grounded slapdashed rainbow.

Then he was struck with a memory. Not too immersed into it or it would've summoned an overwhelming flashback. Just the simple recollection of a day when he was fifteen, Preston eleven and still new to the kingdom, his ability to burn less controlled that it was now. Mitchell had had the fun idea to shove a bouquet of the thickest tulips colored red, orange, and yellow into the lava-mob's skin. Surprised they had caught ablaze immediately however melted into his magma skin. Weeks after he gave off a strong, ornate fragrance that drove him nuts.

Reminiscing in the memory Woofless smiled. The past had recently seemed better the present, filled with childhood fun and innocent, naiveté blinding them from the hardships of their predestined futures. Alia and an enslaved Nooch to lead the scientific parts of the kingdom, Mitch sworn into an essential part of the government, Vikk locked in knighthood to fight and kill…

Himself? He grew up too early, a single traumatic experience catapulting into a year of torture. Then Preston was given to him and helped bring back those days of being a minor, alleviate the pain he had gone through, but not enough. Was that why he clung to a dangerous humanoid he was frequently recommended to discard? He reminded him of those happy times, frustrating as he could be?

Woofless shut his eyes, lids so they tight they were analogous to being bolted together. Maybe if he was out of touch with reality enough he could stare Rob in the face and possibly actually yell at him for once. Would he even listen then?

And yet, that attempt failed.

"R-Rob," snarled the dominant harshly, "R-Rob, y-your emotions c-can a-affect me too."

Nothing.

"Rob j-just because you're i-in m-me and c-can't do anything doesn't make y-you the pa-passenger."

Still no response. He groaned.

"Rob, I-I h-hope you bl-bloody kn-know I-I can't focus w-with your f-feelings weakening m-my m-mental st-stability."

**"My b-bed."**

Woofless sighed, half-glad his reflection wasn't going to leave him to suffer in addition to shunning him.

**"W-Woof, m-my bed."**

Blinking, he stared forward, looking right at the haphazardly strew blankets. Besides that fact nothing seemed utterly wrong. "W-What about it?"

**"I-It's red." **Rob's voice was shallow, every word practically vomiting the uneasy emotion. **"M-My bed i-is r-red."**

"Cra-Crafted b-bed c-can be multiple c-colors, right? A-All colors. A-Any c-colors. Random."

Worried either way he left his stagnant position against the wall and walked forward. Under him his legs trembled with Rob's fidgety distress, every step feeling like he was approaching some imminent doom. Once there he sat on the mattress, his bum sinking into the wool with a slight depression. Within him, the inferior shrieked.

"W-W-What?!" Woofless yelped much louder than he anticipated. "W-What about your b-bed?"

**"It's r-red!"**

"B-But-"

**"Non-respawning!"**

Immediately he jumped up and tripped over his own wobbly legs, crashing to the ground, flattening innocent flowers. A loud, high-pitched screech made its way out his mouth and into the air. Glitching arms whipped over to his face before juddering again and slapping his eyes. Again he screeched.

_Why is your bed friggin' non-respawning?!_

**"I-I'm s-s-sorry! I d-didn't r-realize until w-we w-woke up!"**

_Then you should've said so sooner and I would've been out of here killing sheep!_

**"I-I'm s-sorry! I'm sorry!"**

There were two types of bed: respawning and non-respawning. Respawning beds, usually with bedsheets a great variety of colors, could bring a dead person back to life the instant they died. Back to where they had slept that night, their body would appear unscathed and perfectly healthy.

Non-respawning beds are a whole 'nother story. They're rare, thus often missed. Those could be crafted at chance or substituted the suitable beds over time. No one knew why this happened, but if a bed in which turned red was not replaced when whosever's it was were inflicted fatally, they'd die. Permanently. No redos. No exceptions. A lifeless body lying on the ground with the lethal wounds. That's why it was so important to check the color of the blankets every morning before leaving the safety of one's home. To check if they got their respawn on.

Something Rob had forgotten to do.

_So the last time you were in here you slept in a non-respawning bed?!_

**"I d-d-didn't n-notice!"**

Rolling to his backside Woofless scowling at the red covers. They were frayed already however still a wondrous shade of a grand alizarin, magnificently intertwined with the hue of the flower haven. That was how they missed it so easily – it blended in right in with this room absolutely basking in a feel of security. It was the downside to a tempting, supposedly luscious offer, one invisible until you dived right in to become ensnarled with painful thorns.

"Dammit."

**"I'm s-sor-"**

"Shut u-up."

His grimace deepened, darkened. Anger boiled under his skin as he pushed himself up to a stand. In a short eruption of fury his foot flew forward and kicked the bed. It slid back a block before smacking on the curved stone wall of this tiny cavern. Here he was always telling the TBNRfrags Preston to hold his temper when in a whole different world he was ready to kill someone.

**"K-Kill?" **Rob muttered sheepishly.

_Maybe not kill. _

Swiftly he dropped his flaring gaze and stared at the grassy floor. Something was under his shoe, a dull shade of spritzer pink, its soft material more susceptible to the forces creasing and tearing it down.

A tulip. A ruined tulip.

_ "Right here. The perfect spot, right by the bed."_

_But I've been trained how._

**"M-Mitchy…"**

Before Rob bent too far Woofless knelt to the ground, saving as much of the flower as he could. The petals had to be plucked from the stem and his fingers seemed to be ruining them more no matter how he tried smoothing them. The tulip, possibly once silky, was now leeching its juices, sticky to the touch, staining the light pink petals. It was like a wetted document now with running ink far beyond comprehensible. No longer neat. No longer beautiful. No longer lovely.

**"M-Mitch's tulip is r-ruined."**

"Rob, it's j-just a fl-flower."

Just as he had the thought to release the soiled plant remains from his fingers they tightened, stiff and painfully held together. **"It's n-not j-just a fl-flower," **the inferior retorted sharply. **"I-It's n-not. Y-You don't understand. You re-refuse to un-understand."**

"R-Rob-"

**"You d-don't un-understand. W-Woofless R-Robert, t-this isn't y-your w-world and t-these are not your gri-grieving fr-friends. A-And you w-won't un-understand wh-why I have t-to g-go to Sal-Salty La-Lagoon."**


	6. Six: We Sink

**Chapter Six – **_**We Sink**_

"_Fill the gap between you and me," -Of Monsters and Men, _We Sink

* * *

_This is dumb we'll get caught I'll have to answer questions we aren't even split yet-_

**"W-Woofless, ch-chill."**

Out the tunnel the sunlight burned his eyes and Woofless felt them water even as he squinched. The outside habited a much more uptight silence than ever before. Every creak of the minecart wheels sent frantic quakes throughout his body, butterflies beginning to flutter in his gut.

His sights didn't remain on it for long. With anxious eyes he scanned some sort of birch plank consistent structure on his left and deciding it to be empty by its vacated windows. It was perched atop one poor thin birch tree and some man-placed square leaves told the dominant it was someone's sad treehouse.

Hardly settled, overwrought and quivering, he continued to inspect the area in slow turns, swallowing as much detail he managed; not to miss an eye in a possible window or a peeper in the thin birch forest. Then he paused with a faint gasp.

The famous Salty Lagoon he had been frequently entertained by was more like a crater, as if some sort of meteor smashed into the ground yet the evidence of such had been removed, leaving behind its traces. Or perhaps this meteor could've been covered in this crude dirt, on behalf of the hill in the middle of the depression where some unfinished structure was being built - a tower made of white stone slabs in an upside-down cup shape stacked upon each other, the higher the wider. A third level appeared incomplete, part of a partial curled wall resembling shattered pottery.

**"That's V-Vikk's p-place," **Rob noted in a whisper, despite having an audience of one.

Woofless nodded, observing from the shadows of the spruce wood wharf the minecart dumped him on. The platform's itself was small with crafting tables and overturned chests, empty, built into a hill which didn't even stretch out over the lagoon. Nonetheless it was the most trifling of touch ups for this eyesore; a pit of dirt both light and dark, some coarse in areas. Dead leaves, most of them brown and shrunken, lay scattered across the ground, perhaps thrown in by the winds of nature. Strewn in the ditch as though chaotically thrown there lay few pieces of lit Netherrack, an unceasing small fire. It just looked desolate and ruined – the extinguished pit of hell.

**"I-I did th-that."**

Blinking, Woofless stumbled back, grazing his leg against the minecart. It moved along the track barely by half a block, giving off the low rumble of metallic rolling wheels. Quickly he looked around again in case anyone took notice. There was no movement.

_You did this?_

**"Yeah. P-Proud of me m-mum?"**

_Hell no. And I'm not your-_

**"J-Just a-an expression." **He could feel Rob smiling form his own lips trying to curl. For once, he gave in, slivers of his anxiety cut away from the inferior's pride.** "Y-You sh-should've seen it be-before I dr-drained it."**

_Why would you-_

His arms jerked upwards, successfully cutting him off. One of them actually made it above his head against the dominant reflection's resistance. In bouts of horrid pain Rob surrendered, **"T-The amount of h-hate!"**

The painful screech tried breaking free from the back of his throat. Woofless bit his tongue, instantly regretting his decision more than ever as the original pang turned to head throbs. Stupid having to please Rob and shit. _Hate? From whom?_

**"T-The others! I-It w-was just a prank! T-To li-lighten t-the mood!"**

_Prank? To lighten the mood?_

**"Y-You don't do th-that t-to m-make your fr-friends ha-happy?"**

_Pranking them? _ Woofless cringed, imagining how the people he knew would've reacted. Vikk would threaten to attack him. Jerome might succeed in attacking him. Preston would want to hurt him but would probably just burn a valuable. Kenny would feel obliged to steal something. Lachlan would sue. Mitch would try having him thrown him in jail for a few weeks. _That would add insult to injury. Did you not think of that?_

Rob shifted a little, Woofless's legs twitching in rendition, droopy. Those bits of happiness was slipping away. **"N-No… T-That's what I-I nor-normally do. B-But I-I… I was gon-gonna fi-fix it! U-Using ice! T-The or-original purpose of m-my ice f-farm! C-Chuck t-the blocks in t-there in grid form and g-get them to m-melt into p-perfect s-sources and whala! S-Salty Lagoon v t-two!"**

_What sort of gormless dolt-_

**"I-I h-heard that. A-And… g-gormless?"**

The last of the inferior's merriment dissolved. Left with only his own uneasy emotions and Rob's mild annoyance, Woofless's trembling harshened. He turned his head left and looked the forest over – vacant – and a box constructed of birch wood planks hanging over the empty lagoon lacking a roof and the one wall facing his direction. Only a large chest sat there beside a brightly pink bed.

"**Lac-Lachlan's house," **Rob stated flatly.

Woofless nearly snickered, giving off a sizzling bubble of burp instead. _House? _ It was nearly a mirror image of the type of homes unwelcomed merchants often built to survive the night. Poor and lacking materials, they scrapped up dirt and dead trees to make some sort of shelter. And for _Lachlan _to be currently residing in one of those – _Lachlan,_ who was among the wealthiest in Living Axe; _Lachlan, _who would order his servants to purchase the fanciest attire monthly; _Lachlan, _who lived in one of the extravagant of mansions others tend to gape over – living in a _shack_? Was this Lachlan a ham-handed _cretin_?

Rob had heard his thoughts again and was completely under laughter_. _Woofless squeezed his face together, bit his swelling tongue, forcing himself not to fall victim. His cheeks burned as he bent over and clenched his lower abdomen. Nauseous he stared forward and looked at the tiny room, catching sight of the pink bed again. He imaged _Lachlan _lying down in that every night. He imaged _Lachlan's_ dissatisfied face when he first crafted it and probably swearing it to no end. For once he could finally think of valid insults for the young man. Unfortunate. Destitute. Grubby. Unenvied. Pitied.

Then he was there.

As if on cue the blonde manifested half a block above the bed and flopped down upon it. Profanities entered the air as his red sweatshirt scuffled with the pink covers, black jeans thrashed and slammed to the floor. In a thrill of those colors he finally collapsed to the ground, still screaming vulgarities, frequent shouts about "creepers" intertwined within.

To simply put it, Woofless also fell, head whacking on the wood. Among all his limbs twitching his chat arm buzzed subtly on the wooden floor. Under a pounding migraine he managed to snatch control back of them and push himself behind a wall all the while spitting out the sudden flow of saliva. Somehow Rob had just resorted to snorts. He wanted to yell at him but the pain was just too much.

They could hear Lachlan finally calming down enough to speak. Loud still, his thick Australian swore, "Damn fudgin' creepers, sneakin' up behind me, blowin' the hell outta me, makin' me lose all my stuff."

A chest creaked open followed by some clanging of objects. He rambled on, "Gotta go all the way back down there fudgin' alone for the third time. Preston ain't even helping, just wailing on Tyler's back. What happened to this 'pairs' thing? Vikk got freakin' mauled over it and yet here I am having to do everything myself and everybody knows I can't even go freakin' mining with my God-damn ping. Does nobody even care I could be the next Rob? Anyone can be next Rob–"

Immediately he cut himself off, even stilling whatever he was doing with his items. With the hiss of fires the only sound, Woofless reached for the end of the wall and pulled his body close enough for his eyes to peer. Lachlan was lowering the chest's lid slowly, slightly bent forward, eyes probably closed. Visibly disturbed he was shaking, quivering harshly, the strings of his blood-red hood swaying side to side. "I'm… I'm sorry."

His voice was strained and hardly audible, as if about to go out completely. Woofless felt his reflection crook his neck and attempt turning his head trying to hear, so he followed through. The pain was too much, almost all consuming, pulling him down. In a futile attempt he clenched his fist and ordered himself to stay awake. He knew he was losing. He wanted to tell Rob, but…

Lachlan straightened, still shaking himself, looking around. As he turned Woofless pulled his feeble physique back behind walls before the Australian's gaze could land on him. His insides burned. He retched, making his mouth burn, his lips burned. Heavy, dull orange bile clung to his front side. Oh, and the smell.

_Lachlan don't hear me don't hear me Lachlan kept ranting don't hear me go mining._

**"W-W-Woof…"**

_Rob? Rob?_

Sweat clung to his eyes, blurring his sights into a mesh. Head twisting, he searched for his reflection, a hopeless pursuit, wondering if he looked the same.

_Rob what happened to you?_

That was the last thought he had before blacking out.


End file.
